KYIV: Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy system and some cities with cruise and ballistic missiles plus drones on Wednesday in an “inhuman” Christmas Day assault, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Nearly three years into the war, the strikes wounded at least six people in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and killed one in the region of Dnipropetrovsk, the governors there said.

Half a million people in Kharkiv region were left without heating, in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero, while there were blackouts in the capital Kyiv and elsewhere.

“Today, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones,” Zelensky said.

Russia’s defence ministry confirmed it had conducted a “massive strike” on what it said were critical energy facilities supporting the work of Kyiv’s “military-industrial complex”. “The aim of the strike was achieved. All facilities have been hit,” it said in a statement.

Ukraine’s military said its air defences downed 59 Russian missiles and 54 drones overnight and on Wednesday morning.

Ukrainians were marking their second Christmas on Wednesday, according to a new calendar in another step towards erasing Russian influence.

Most Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians and the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine, set up in 2018, agreed in 2023 to move away from the traditional Julian calendar used in Russia where Christmas is Jan 7.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2024