Ukrainian worshipers celebrated Orthodox Christmas underground on Saturday as Russian shells continued to hit the eastern a part of the country, despite an alleged Christmas ceasefire announced by Vladimir Putin.
Putin’s announced 36-hour truce was scheduled to start Friday at noon Moscow time – Orthodox Christmas Eve – and would last until midnight on Saturday. However the bombings reportedly continued throughout the Ukrainian festivities, killing no less than three people and injuring 14 Independent Kyiv reported.
Ministry of Defense of Ukraine he said A 66-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman died in the town of Bakhmut, a strategically necessary city within the eastern Donbass region where fierce fighting has been happening for months despite heavy Russian losses.
![Puffs of smoke rise from a Russian strike during the 36-hour ceasefire on Orthodox Christmas.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/ceasefire-02.jpg?w=1024)
Ukrainian Defense Intelligence also posted a video to social media on Saturday, he said, depicted Chechen volunteers fighting Russian occupiers at hotspots in the town.
Most Chechens fighting within the war support Russia.
Meanwhile, civilians in Bakhmut have arrange “invincibility centers” that provide Web access, telephone connections, heating, water and electricity to those whose services have been disrupted by Russian bombing, which has destroyed much of the world’s basic infrastructure.
![The faithful pray during the Orthodox Christmas mass in the basement shelter.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/ceasefire-featured.jpg?w=1024)
“When Putin Says There Is A Ceasefire, In Reality It Is The Opposite: There Is No Ceasefire” said humanitarian volunteer Vasyl Liesen“They shot at us lots yesterday. It was kind of quiet at night. But that is the way it normally is: at some point it’s shelling, the following it’s calmer.”
Liesen said other volunteers were injured within the attacks, including one one who lost a limb and was evacuated from Bakhmut.
Within the nearby town of Khasiv Yar, Orthodox Christians celebrated the vacation in a bunker within the basement of a tenement house as Russian artillery rained down outside and fighter jets flew overhead.
![Ukrainian soldiers arrive for a Christmas service at the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/ceasefire-04.jpg?w=1024)
The variety of participants within the makeshift church ceremony was just nine after many residents fled the region, Barron reported.
It’s unusual here,” Zinaida Artyuchina. “Today is my first time within the basement. Thank God we got together in any respect.”