Many Ukrainians were celebrating without heat or power 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 deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhuman,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X early Wednesday. “Every Russian massive strike takes time to prepare. It is never a spontaneous decision. It is a conscious choice not only of targets, but also of time and date.”
More than 70 Russian missiles and more than a hundred drones targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with Ukrainian forces successfully shooting down more than 50 missiles and a significant number of drones, Zelenskyy added in his post.
Zelenskyy also said that the “targeted attack” on the energy sector caused outages in several regions, including Kyiv, and emphasized that Russian forces “continue to fight for a blackout in Ukraine.”
“Russian evil will not break Ukraine and will not distort Christmas,” he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attacks.
“This morning, Russia’s Armed Forces carried out a massive strike with long-range precision weapons and strike drones on critical energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine that ensure the operation of the military-industrial complex,” the ministry said in its daily briefing on Telegram.
“The strike’s objective was achieved. All facilities were hit,” it added.
“This Christmas terror is Putin’s response to those who spoke about illusionary ‘Christmas ceasefire’,” Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said in a post on X on Wednesday morning.
The attack caused “serious damage” to thermal power plant equipment, according to DTEK, Ukraine’s largest energy company. Once the shelling stopped, energy sector workers began “restoring the equipment” to ensure a swift recovery, it said.
U.S. President Joe Biden described it as an “outrageous attack” to deprive Ukrainians of heat and electricity during the winter. He also said he has told the Defense Department to continue its “surge of weapons deliveries” to Ukraine.
“Let me be clear: The Ukrainian people deserve to live in peace and safety, and the United States and the international community must continue to stand with Ukraine until it triumphs over Russia’s aggression,” Biden said.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Hlushchenko confirmed that Russia was “massively attacking the energy system,” in a Telegram post Wednesday morning.
He urged people to stay in shelters until the shelling stopped, adding that necessary measures had been implemented to “minimize the negative consequences for the power system.”
This marks Russia’s 13th attack on Ukraine’s energy sector this year, and the 10th attack on the company’s energy enterprises, according to a post on DTEK’s official telegram account.
It also marks only the second time in modern Ukrainian history that Christmas is officially celebrated Dec. 25, a significant shift away from the traditional Jan. 7 celebration observed by Russians and other Eastern Orthodox Christians.
“For the second time in modern history, Christmas unites all Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy said in an earlier post on X.
“Today, we stand side by side. And we will not be lost,” Zelenskyy said, adding, “Ukrainians are together today. And as long as we do this, evil has no chance.”
Meanwhile, Russian officials said Wednesday that four people had been killed and five injured in the partially occupied Kursk region after Ukrainian shelling.
The region’s acting governor, Alexander Khinshtein, said in a post on Telegram that the gas and electricity supply in the town of Lgov had also been disrupted by the shelling.
