On Wednesday, Russia launched a “inhuman” Christmas Day attack on Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure and certain cities using cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as drones, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Nearly three years into the war, the attacks injured at least six people in the northern city of Kharkiv and killed one in the Dnipropetrovsk area, according to local governors. Half a million people in the Kharkiv area were left without heat, with temperatures only a few degrees Celsius above zero, and there were blackouts in the capital Kyiv and elsewhere.
“Today, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones,” he said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed it had conducted a “massive strike” on what it said were critical energy facilities supporting the work of Kyiv’s “military-industrial complex”.
“The aim of the strike was achieved. All facilities have been hit,” it said in a statement.
Ukraine’s military claimed its air defenses intercepted 59 Russian missiles and 54 drones overnight and Wednesday morning. Ukrainians celebrated their second Christmas on Wednesday, according to a new calendar, in yet another step toward removing Russian influence. The majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians, and the separate Orthodox Church of Ukraine, established in 2018, agreed in 2023 to abandon the old Julian calendar used in Russia, where Christmas is celebrated on January 7. Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine’s energy industry since the spring of this year, destroying over half of its producing capacity and inflicting extended blackouts.
The Ukrainian air force said that Kharkiv had been attacked by ballistic missiles. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov stated on Telegram that civilian non-residential infrastructure had been damaged, but did not provide any details.
Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak stated that the fatality happened during an attack on regional power facilities. German Galushchenko, Ukraine’s Energy Minister, stated on Facebook that Russia was heavily targeting the power industry and that energy supply was restricted. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy provider, claimed its producing facilities were assaulted, with power equipment severely damaged, in the 13th major strike on the energy industry this year.
“We appeal to every ally of Ukraine to end this state-sponsored terrorism now by giving our armed forces the air defence ammunition they need to protect essential energy infrastructure,” DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said in a statement.
“For the third holiday season, Russia weaponizes winter.”
