Ukraine war: Washington 'to send 50 Bradleys' and five other top developments
Artillery fire could be heard from the front line in Ukraine on Friday, even after the official start of a unilateral ceasefire declared by Moscow and rejected by Kyiv.
Additionally, air raid sirens were sounded across the entire country around 1:30 pm local time on Friday.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the 36-hour ceasefire from midday on Friday to observe Orthodox Christmas.
Kyiv has said it has no intention to stop fighting, rejecting the purported truce as a stunt by Moscow to buy time to reinforce troops that have taken heavy losses this week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the ceasefire out of hand as a ploy for Russia to buy time.
"They now want to use Christmas as a cover, albeit briefly, to stop the advances of our boys ... and bring equipment, ammunition and mobilised troops closer to our positions," Zelenskyy said in his Thursday night video address.
Russia's defence ministry said its troops began observing the ceasefire from noon Moscow time (0900 GMT) "along the entire line of contact" in the conflict but said Ukraine kept up its shelling.
One witness in the Russian-occupied regional capital Donetsk, close to the front, told Reuters that there was outgoing artillery fired from pro-Russian positions on the city's outskirts after the truce was meant to take effect.
Neither claim could be independently confirmed.
One rescue worker was killed and four others injured after Russian forces shelled a fire department in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson before the deadline early on Friday, the regional governor said. Reuters could not immediately verify this.
In the hours prior to the deadline, rockets slammed into a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk close to the eastern
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