Russia launched a massive barrage of missiles and drones targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Wednesday, hitting a thermal power plant and sending Ukrainians taking cover in metro stations on Christmas morning.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that the strikes on Ukrainian fuel and energy sources included 78 air, land and sea missiles, as well as 106 witness aircraft and other types of drones. It claimed to have intercepted 59 missiles and 54 drones, and jammed 52 other drones.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin deliberately chose Christmas to launch an attack. What could be more inhumane? “They continue to fight for power outages in Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Channel X.
In Russia, a woman died and three people were injured after falling drone debris caused a fire in a shopping center in the city of Vladikavkaz. The President of the Russian Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Governor Sergei Minyaylo, said that security footage showed that the explosion occurred outside the Alanya Mall on Wednesday morning.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on the Telegram application that at least one person was killed in the Russian attack on the Ukrainian Dnipro region, adding that heating was disrupted in 155 residential buildings. He also said that 500,000 people in the Kharkiv region were unable to keep warm.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sepha said that a Russian missile passed through the airspace of Moldova and Romania.
Energy Minister Herman Haloshenko said Russia was “again attacking energy infrastructure on a large scale.” The Ukrainian Air Force said that several missiles were fired at the Kharkiv, Dnipro and Poltava regions in the east of the country.
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Haloshenko said that the energy distributor had taken the necessary measures to reduce consumption. He added: “As soon as the security situation allows, energy workers will determine the damage caused.” State energy company Ukrainergo implemented a preventive power outage across the country due to a “massive missile attack”, knocking out power in several areas of the capital, Kiev.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said Russia struck one of its thermal power plants on Wednesday morning, making it the 13th attack on the Ukrainian power grid this year.
“Depriving millions of peace-loving people of light and warmth as they celebrate Christmas is a depraved and evil act that must be answered,” DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko wrote on his X account.
Regional President Oleh Sinyhopov wrote on Telegram that at least seven strikes targeted Kharkiv, sparking fires across the city. Local authorities said that at least three people were injured.
“Kharkiv is under heavy missile bombardment. A series of explosions rang out in the city, and ballistic missiles were still flying towards the city. “Stay in safe places,” Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in its morning report on Wednesday that it shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the regions of Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Bryansk and Tambov, as well as over the Sea of Azov. The incident that occurred in North Ossetia-Alania was not mentioned.
Regional President Alexander Khinshtin said that four people were also killed as a result of the Ukrainian bombing of the town of Elgov in the Kursk region. He added that three people were killed after several residential buildings and a beauty salon were targeted. Another person later died in hospital.
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