 On Friday morning, Christmas Eve for Russians and many Ukrainians. Russian shells hit Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian city near the frontline in the industrial Donetsk region, that Russia claims as its territory, the city mayor said. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, starting a war that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and reduced cities to rubble. Ukraine has driven Russia back from some of its territory, but battles are raging over eastern and southern cities. And Russia has unleashed barriers of airstrikes on civilian infrastructure. In a surprise last-minute announcement on Thursday, January 6, Putin unilaterally ordered his troops to observe a ceasefire from Friday to run through the Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, a move that was rejected as a trick by Ukraine and its allies. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky rejected the idea out of hand, saying the goal was to hold the progress of Ukraine's forces in Donetsk and the wider Eastern Donbas region and bring it more Moscow forces.