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Russian President Vladimir Putin stood alone at a midnight service at a Kremlin church as he commemorated Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine that darkened Orthodox Christmas.
Putin attended the ceremony at the Cathedral of the Annunciation, which was originally designed for the Russian tsar.
Photos released by the Kremlin showed him standing alone as a golden-robed Orthodox priest held a long candle during the ceremony.
In previous years, Putin usually attended Orthodox Christmas services in Russian provinces or on the outskirts of Moscow.
The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7th.
In a Kremlin message on Saturday, Putin congratulated Orthodox Christians, saying the holiday inspired “good deeds and wishes.”
He also praised the Orthodox Church, whose influential leader Patriarch Kirill fully supports Putin’s offensive in Ukraine.
Putin said the church group was “supporting our soldiers in special military operations,” using official Kremlin terminology to describe the offensive in Ukraine.
“Such a great, multifaceted, truly ascetic work deserves the sincerest respect,” he added.
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Patriarch Kirill calls on the faithful to support pro-Russian “brothers” during Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine.
In a sermon last year, he said that dying in Ukraine “washes away all sin”.
On February 24 last year, Putin sent troops to Ukraine, saying the Orthodox country needed to be “demilitarized”.
His forces have suffered a series of military setbacks in Western-backed countries in recent months.
Putin unilaterally ordered his troops to suspend attacks for 36 hours over the Orthodox Christmas period.
But AFP reporters heard incoming and outgoing shelling in the frontline city of Bahmut in eastern Ukraine after the Russian ceasefire was supposed to begin.
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