Many Ukrainians have been celebrating with out warmth or energy after Russia launched a Christmas Day attack on the country’s energy infrastructure, an act that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as “inhuman.”
“Today, Putin intentionally selected Christmas for an assault. What might be extra inhuman,” Zelenskyy stated in a submit on X early Wednesday. “Every Russian large strike takes time to arrange. It isn’t a spontaneous choice. It is a aware alternative not solely of targets, but additionally of time and date.”
More than 70 Russian missiles and greater than 100 drones focused Ukraine’s vitality infrastructure, with Ukrainian forces efficiently taking pictures down greater than 50 missiles and a major variety of drones, Zelenskyy added in his submit.
Zelenskyy additionally stated that the “focused assault” on the vitality sector induced outages in a number of areas, together with Kyiv, and emphasised that Russian forces “proceed to struggle for a blackout in Ukraine.”
“Russian evil won’t break Ukraine and won’t distort Christmas,” he stated.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the assaults.
“This morning, Russia’s Armed Forces carried out a large strike with long-range precision weapons and strike drones on important vitality infrastructure services in Ukraine that make sure the operation of the military-industrial complicated,” the ministry stated in its every day briefing on Telegram.
“The strike’s goal was achieved. All services have been hit,” it added.
“This Christmas terror is Putin’s response to those that spoke about illusionary ‘Christmas ceasefire’,” Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s international minister, stated in a submit on X on Wednesday morning.
The assault induced “severe injury” to thermal energy plant gear, based on DTEK, Ukraine’s largest vitality firm. Once the shelling stopped, vitality sector employees started “restoring the gear” to make sure a swift restoration, it stated.
U.S. President Joe Biden described it as an “outrageous assault” to deprive Ukrainians of warmth and electrical energy through the winter. He additionally stated he has advised the Defense Department to proceed its “surge of weapons deliveries” to Ukraine.
“Let me be clear: The Ukrainian folks should stay in peace and security, and the United States and the worldwide group should proceed to face with Ukraine till it triumphs over Russia’s aggression,” Biden stated.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Hlushchenko confirmed that Russia was “massively attacking the vitality system,” in a Telegram submit Wednesday morning.
He urged folks to remain in shelters till the shelling stopped, including that essential measures had been carried out to “decrease the destructive penalties for the facility system.”
This marks Russia’s thirteenth attack on Ukraine’s energy sector this 12 months, and the tenth assault on the corporate’s vitality enterprises, based on a submit on DTEK’s official telegram account.
It additionally marks solely the second time in fashionable Ukrainian historical past that Christmas is officially celebrated Dec. 25, a major shift away from the traditional Jan. 7 celebration noticed by Russians and different Eastern Orthodox Christians.
“For the second time in fashionable historical past, Christmas unites all Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy stated in an earlier submit on X.
“Today, we stand facet by facet. And we won’t be misplaced,” Zelenskyy stated, including, “Ukrainians are collectively at this time. And so long as we do that, evil has no probability.”
Meanwhile, Russian officers stated Wednesday that 4 folks had been killed and 5 injured within the partially occupied Kursk area after Ukrainian shelling.
The area’s performing governor, Alexander Khinshtein, stated in a submit on Telegram that the gasoline and electrical energy provide within the city of Lgov had additionally been disrupted by the shelling.
