a Russian attack in Ukraine leaves at least one dead and six injured on December 25

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Russia launched this Wednesday, December 25 in the morning more than 70 missiles and more than 100 explosive drones on Ukraine with its energy system as a target, declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, denouncing an “inhumane” attack on Christmas Day by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

“Christmas Terror”

“Today Putin consciously chose Christmas for his attack. What could be more inhumane? » launched Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram.

“More than 50 missiles” and some drones were shot down but some strikes led to “power cuts in several regions,” he added.

This “Christmas terror is Putin’s response to those who spoke of an illusory + Christmas ceasefire +” between kyiv and Moscow, Minister Sybiga added.

The attack made at least one dead and at least six injuredauthorities said.

One of the Russian missiles launched during this attack crossed Moldovan and Romanian airspace, said the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Andriï Sybiga. This “reminds us that Russia does not only threaten Ukraine,” he stressed on the social network X.

Regular attacks on the electricity network

Since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has regularly bombed its neighbor's electricity grid, plunging hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people into darkness and cold, often in winter temperatures.

The DTEK group, the country's main private energy supplier, said on Wednesday that its thermal power plants had been targeted by this new attack, reporting “serious damage” to their equipment.

“This is already the thirteenth massive attack on Ukraine’s energy system this year,” DTEK said in a statement.

“Depriving millions of peaceful people celebrating Christmas of light and heat is a depraved and evil act that must be responded to,” DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko told X, calling on kyiv’s allies to provide more means of air defense.

An air alert was issued across Ukraine at dawn on Wednesday, as the Air Force reported launches of Russian ballistic and cruise missiles.

The authorities of Kharkiv, the country's second city located in the northeast, near the Russian border, reported “at least seven strikes” on this locality.

At least six people were injured, regional governor Oleg Synegoubov announced on Telegram.

The Dnipropetrovsk region (central-east) was also attacked. Explosions notably resounded in the capital, Dnipro, and in Kryvyï Rig, the hometown of President Zelensky.

“One person was killed following the missile attack on energy sites,” said regional governor Serguii Lysak.

A second Christmas celebrated on December 25 and not January 7

The regional administration of Ivano-Frankivsk announced for its part that part of this territory, located in the west of the country, hundreds of kilometers from the front line, was deprived of power.

In the Poltava region (center), authorities reported damaged infrastructure.

The national electricity company, Ukrenergo, then announced supply restrictions.

“The enemy is once again massively attacking the energy sector” and the authorities are taking “necessary measures to limit consumption in order to minimize negative consequences for the energy system,” the Ukrainian Energy Minister wrote on Telegram , German Galushchenko.

Wednesday's attacks come on the day Ukraine, for the second time in its modern historycelebrates Christmas Day on December 25, as in the Western world, and no longer on January 7 as in the Julian calendar followed by the Russian Orthodox Church.

This Christmas trip was made official during the summer of 2023 by a law promulgated by President Volodymyr Zelensky as a sign of defiance towards Russia.

On Sunday, Vladimir Putin promised even more “destruction” to Ukraine, after a drone attack against residential buildings in the city of Kazan, a thousand kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

On Wednesday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that 59 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted over Russian territory during the previous night, including 26 in the Belgorod region and 23 in the Voronezh region.

Voronezh Governor Aleksandr Gusev wrote on Telegram that debris from the downed drones damaged a power line and caused minor material damage to several houses.

With AFP

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