President Joe Biden says Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin's proposal for a cease-fire during the Orthodox Christmas holiday can't be trusted.
"I'm reluctant to respond to anything Putin says," Biden told reporters Thursday, noting Putin offered no such proposal on Christmas, New Year's Eve, or New Year's Day.
"I found it interesting he was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches on the 25th and New Year's.
"I think he's trying to find some oxygen."
Putin offered a 36-hour truce starting Friday upon request from the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, head of the Russian Orthodox Church for the Orthodox Christmas.
Ukraine spurned the cease-fire offer, saying there would be no truce until Russia withdraws its invading forces from occupied land.
Putin's ceasefire would begin on Jan. 6, when many Orthodox Christians, including those living in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate Christmas. It would be the first major truce of the more than 10-month-old war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and devastated large swaths of Ukraine.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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