The move to the Western calendar is seen as a further shift away from Moscow's influence.

Many Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are preparing to celebrate Christmas on 25 December for the first time this year.

Ukraine has traditionally used the Julian calendar, also used by Russia, where Christmas falls on 7 January.

In a further shift from Russia, it is now marking Christmas according to the Western - or Gregorian - calendar, which it uses in everyday life.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky changed the law in July, saying it allowed Ukrainians to “abandon the Russian heritage” of celebrating Christmas in January.

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    Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are preparing to celebrate Christmas on 25 December for the first time this year.

    In the capital Kyiv, married couple Lesia Shestakova, a Catholic, and Oleksandr Shestakov, who is Orthodox, are celebrating Christmas together.

    The pair - who until now marked Christmas twice, with their respective parents - attended the Sunday morning service at the city’s Catholic cathedral (pictured above).

    “There is finally a day in Ukraine which my husband and I can spend together in the cathedral and thank God that we are together, alive and in good health,” Lesia told Reuters news agency.

    It formally broke away from the Russian Orthodox church over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

    In the western city of Lviv, which has been little damaged by the war, children in traditional costumes sang carols and took part in festive processions on the streets.

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