Kremlin-ordered truce is uncertain amid mutual mistrust

An uneasy calm in Kyiv on Friday was broken by air-raid sirens that also blared across the rest of Ukraine despite a Russian ceasefire declaration for the Orthodox Christmas, a truce scorned by Ukrainian officials as a ploy.

An uneasy calm in Kyiv on Friday was broken by air-raid sirens that also blared across the rest of Ukraine despite a Russian ceasefire declaration for the Orthodox Christmas, a truce scorned by Ukrainian officials as a ploy.

No explosions were heard in the capital, however. And reports of sporadic fighting elsewhere in Ukraine were unconfirmed. Clashes there could take hours to become public.

Kyiv residents ventured out into a light dusting of snow to buy gifts, cakes and groceries for Christmas Eve family celebrations, hours after the ceasefire was to have started.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered his forces in Ukraine to observe a unilateral, 36-hour ceasefire. Kyiv officials dismissed the move but didn't clarify whether Ukrainian troops would follow suit.

Moscow also didn't say whether its forces would retaliate if Ukraine kept fighting, but the Moscow-appointed head of the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said they would.

The Russian-declared truce in the nearly 11-month war began at noon Friday and was to continue through midnight Saturday Moscow time (0900 GMT Friday to 2100 GMT Saturday; 4 a.m. EST Friday to 4 p.m. EST Saturday).

Air-raid sirens sounded in Kyiv about 40 minutes after the Russian ceasefire was to come into effect. The widely used “Alerts in Ukraine” app, which includes information from emergency services, showed sirens blaring across the country.