Kiev/Moscow, 6 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region have opened fire on enemy positions during the ceasefire unilaterally declared by Russia for the Orthodox Christmas holiday.

“In this way, they [the soldiers] congratulate the occupiers on the upcoming Christmas!” the Defence Ministry in Kiev wrote on social networks on Friday.

In the town of Bakhmut, Russian troop positions were shelled with 120-millimetre mortar shells as a “gift,” the ministry wrote. “The resistance will continue until the last Russian invader on Ukrainian soil is killed!”

Meanwhile, the Russian military has accused Ukraine of further attacks on three front lines, though not mentioning the Donetsk region.

“Although the Russian army is abiding by the ceasefire that came into effect at 12 noon today, January 6, the Kiev regime has continued to fire artillery at localities and positions of the Russian forces,” army spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow on Friday.

According to Konashenkov, there was fighting in the north near the small town of Lyman, a little further south near the village of Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region and south of the Donetsk region.