Ukrainian president accuses Vladimir Putin of “deliberately” choosing Christmas Day to carry out the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned what he called an “inhumane” Christmas Day Russian drone strike.
“Every massive Russian strike requires time for preparation. It is never a spontaneous decision,” he said Wednesday.
The Ukrainian defense ministry said Russia launched 78 missiles and 106 drones, of which it shot down 113. Nonetheless, Zelensky said, there were power “outages in several regions.”
“The targets are our energy infrastructure. They continue to fight for a blackout in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy added.
Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Facebook that the country’s transmission system operator had taken “the necessary consumption restriction measures to minimize the negative consequences for the energy system.”
In a dig at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Sybiha said on X that “this Christmas terror is Putin’s response to those who spoke about [the] illusionary ‘Christmas ceasefire.’” In the days leading up to Christmas, Orbán had campaigned for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine, which Zelenskyy dismissed during an EU leaders summit he attended Dec. 19.
Half a million people in the ravaged Kharkiv region were left without heating, while Kyiv experienced blackouts, according to media reports.
Ukraine in 2023 changed the date it celebrates Christmas from Jan. 7 — as observed by the Russian Orthodox Church — to Dec. 25 as a means of stepping away from Russia’s religious and cultural influence.
“Russian evil will not break Ukraine and will not spoil Christmas,” Zelenskyy concluded.
