Vladimir Putin was yesterday accused of orchestrating an ‘inhumane’ Christmas Day attack after a wave of strikes pulverised Ukraine’s energy grid.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that more than 70 missiles and 100 drones targeted energy infrastructure sites across the country.
The attack was said to have left hundreds of thousands without heating, killing at least four people across four regions and injuring six in the city of Kharkiv.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer joined the chorus of condemnation, saying it demonstrated Russia’s ‘bloody and brutal war machine’ that showed no respite ‘even at Christmas’.
Mr Zelensky said: ‘Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhumane? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones.’
Despite the country-wide air alerts, he vowed that ‘Russian evil will not break Ukraine and will not ruin Christmas’.
The strikes on fuel and energy sources included 78 air, ground and sea-launched missiles as well as 106 Shaheds and other types of drones, Ukraine’s air force said.
Its air defences were said to have downed 59 Russian missiles and 54 drones overnight on Tuesday and yesterday morning.
Vladimir Putin was yesterday accused of orchestrating an ‘inhumane’ Christmas Day attack after a wave of strikes pulverised Ukraine’s energy grid
The attack was said to have left hundreds of thousands without heating, killing at least four people across four regions and injuring six in the city of Kharkiv
The strikes on fuel and energy sources included 78 air, ground and sea-launched missiles as well as 106 Shaheds and other types of drones, Ukraine’s air force said
At least four people were killed in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kherson and Kharkiv, according to officials.
Civilian buildings were also damaged. Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said one Russian missile passed Moldovan and Romanian airspace. The latter said it did not detect any missiles.
Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector since spring, damaging almost half of its generating capacity and causing prolonged blackouts.
Following the barrage, half a million people in the Kharkiv region were left without heating, in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero, while there were blackouts in Kyiv and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, in Russia one woman died and three people were wounded by falling debris from a downed drone which sparked fire in a shopping centre in the city of Vladikavkaz – near the Georgian border.
A screen grab captured from the video shows the damaged a shopping mall after an explosion, killed one person and injured nine others, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said in Vladikavkaz, Russia on December 25
A local resident reacts near her neighbours’ house, which was destroyed in a drone strike in Kharkiv, on December 25, 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Informal Summit of the Commonwealth of the Independent States, December 25
Moscow’s Defence Ministry said it had conducted a ‘massive strike’ on what it said were critical energy facilities supporting Kyiv’s ‘military-industrial complex’.
Sir Keir denounced the assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. He said: ‘I pay tribute to the resilience of the Ukrainian people, and the leadership of president Zelensky, in the face of further drone and missile attacks from Putin’s bloody and brutal war machine, with no respite, even at Christmas.
‘As we go into the New Year, it remains vital that we redouble our resolve to place Ukraine in the strongest possible position to end Russia’s illegal aggression against the Ukrainian people.’
Yesterday marked only the second time that Ukraine has held Christmas on December 25.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which claims sovereignty over Ukraine’s Orthodox Christians, celebrates Christmas on January 7, following the ancient Julian calendar.
Last year Mr Zelensky signed a law moving Ukraine’s Christmas Day to December 25, with a goal of abandoning the ‘Russian heritage’ of the Orthodox Christmas.
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