MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. Ukraine’s refusal to accept the Christmas ceasefire offered by Russia demonstrates the fact that Kiev is reluctant to associate itself with citizens of new Russian regions, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second CIS Department Alexey Polishchuk said in an interview with TASS.

"The rough and reckless refusal of the Kiev regime to accept the Christmas ceasefire demonstrates the fact that it no longer associates itself either with the citizens of new Russian regions that it considers its own, or with its own citizens, being indifferent to their lives," he said.

"We are not surprised at that. We have an eight-year experience of Kiev undermining the work of the contact group and the Normandy format, the Ukrainian troops shelling Donbass cities on a daily basis despite the agreements on the Christmas, Easter and back-to-school ceasefire that were being reached then," the diplomat added.

On January 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered that a ceasefire be established along the combat engagement line in the special military operation zone from 12:00 (noon) on January 6 to 00:00 (midnight) on January 8. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu issued the corresponding instruction. The Zelensky regime rejected the Christmas truce.