Kremlin rejects Christmas ceasefire, says Ukraine would use it to regroup

“We want peace. We do not want a ceasefire just to give Ukraine a breather and time to prepare for continuing the war,” Peskov said in a remark widely seen as cynical.

Russia has repeatedly refused offers of temporary truces or ceasefires. Peskov reiterated standard Kremlin narratives about pursuing “Russia’s goals and interests” and falsely claimed Moscow wants to “guarantee peace in Europe for the future.”

Earlier, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said efforts would be made to pressure Russia into halting hostilities at least over the Christmas period.

On Dec. 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with a U.S. delegation in Berlin for a second round of talks that lasted more than two hours. Zelenskyy said both Ukraine and the United States supported the German chancellor’s proposal — but noted the decision rests on “Russia’s political will.”

Before arriving in Berlin, Zelenskyy said a fair and realistic path to a ceasefire could follow the principle of “where we stand, we stay” — meaning Ukrainian and Russian troops would remain in their current positions while all further issues would be settled diplomatically. At the same time, Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, signaled that the Kremlin would not accept any changes to the peace plan.

On Dec. 3, Peskov had already said Russian authorities had no plans to initiate a New Year’s ceasefire along the front.

Earlier this year, on April 28, Putin declared a so-called “truce” to mark May 9, Russia’s Victory Day. It was scheduled to last three days — from midnight on May 8 to midnight on May 11.

Zelenskyy rejected Putin’s offer of what he called a “so-called truce,” instead calling for a ceasefire lasting at least 30 days. On May 8, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the supposed truce was a farce, as Russian attacks on the front lines had not stopped.

Putin had previously declared a similar so-called “Easter truce,” to take effect from the evening of April 19 through midnight on April 21. Zelenskyy said at the time that Russian forces violated that Easter ceasefire nearly 3,000 times in a single day.