Vladimir Putin’s 36 hour ceasefire in Ukraine, which came into effect at noon today, didn’t last long: less than two hours in, the Russian army broke it.Artillery fire and shelling were reported in the eastern cities of Bakhmut and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, later confirmed by the Ukrainian presidential administration.One popular milblogger Voenniy Osvedomitel, with over half a million subscribers on Telegram, called the ceasefire ‘outright madness, purely performative’.Correctly, it turns out, he continued, ‘it is hard to imagine that the fighters will observe it’, condemning it as the perfect opportunity for Ukraine to solidify its position.Ostensibly, his order for the fighting to stop was a response to the appeal this week by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, himself an ardent and vocal supporter of the ‘special military operation’, to halt hostilities over the religious period."