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Russia Unleashes Deadly Christmas Week Barrage on Ukraine, Hitting Homes and Power Grid
Kyiv, Ukraine – Just two days before Christmas, Russia launched a massive overnight assault on Ukraine, deploying over 650 drones and three dozen missiles that left at least three people dead, including a 4-year-old child. The wide-ranging attack, which began overnight and continued into daylight hours on Tuesday, struck homes and critical power infrastructure across 13 regions, triggering widespread outages amidst bitter temperatures.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the bombardment, stating it clearly signals Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unwavering intent to pursue the invasion. This comes just a day after Zelenskyy had described recent progress in peace talks as “quite solid.”
“This attack is an extremely clear signal of Russian priorities,” Zelenskyy stated in a Telegram post. “A strike before Christmas, when people want to be with their families, at home, in safety.
A strike, in fact, in the midst of negotiations that are being conducted to end this war. Putin cannot accept the fact that we must stop killing.”
Ukrainian and European officials have frequently voiced concerns that Putin is not genuinely engaging with U.S.-led peace efforts.
For months, President Trump has been advocating for a peace agreement, though negotiations have been complicated by the starkly differing demands from Moscow and Kyiv. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff reported “productive and constructive” talks with Ukrainian and European representatives in Florida on Sunday.
However, Mr. Trump offered a more reserved assessment on Monday, simply stating, “The talks are going along.”
Zelenskyy confirmed that these negotiations have led to the drafting of “several draft documents,” which include proposals for “security guarantees for Ukraine, on recovery, and on a basic framework for ending this war.” He added that these points “have been set in such a way as to correspond to the objective of actually ending the war and the need to prevent a third Russian invasion.”
Russian Attack Takes Steep Toll
Initial reports from Ukrainian emergency services detailed the tragic loss of a child in Ukraine’s northwestern Zhytomyr region. A drone strike also claimed the life of a woman in the Kyiv region, and another civilian fatality was recorded in the western Khmelnytskyi region, according to Zelenskyy.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 635 drones of various types and 38 missiles. Air defenses successfully intercepted 587 drones and 34 missiles.
This marks the ninth large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy system this year. Acting Energy Minister Artem Nekraso confirmed that the assault left multiple regions in the west without power, with emergency outages implemented nationwide. He assured that efforts to restore power would commence as soon as security conditions allowed.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy supplier, confirmed that the attack targeted its thermal power stations, marking the seventh major strike on the company’s facilities since October. DTEK’s thermal power plants have endured over 220 hits since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, resulting in the deaths of four workers and injuries to 59 others.
Authorities in the western regions of Rivne, Ternopil, and Lviv, as well as the northern Sumy region, reported damage to energy infrastructure or widespread power outages following the attack. In the southern Odesa region, regional head Oleh Kiper stated that Russia struck energy, port, transport, industrial, and residential infrastructure, causing damage to a merchant ship and over 120 homes.