Last Updated: December 25, 2024, 23:37 IST
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Putin choosing Christmas to attack is inhumane. A rescuer of the State Emergency Service works to put out a fire in a private house after a drone strike in Kharkiv. (IMAGE: AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Wednesday an “inhumane” attack from Russia, which launched over 170 missiles and drones on his war-torn country’s power grid on Christmas Day, killing an energy worker.
The country woke up at 5:30 am (0330 GMT) to an air raid alarm, shortly followed by air force reports that Russia had launched Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea.
related stories “Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhumane? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones. The target is our energy system,” Zelensky said.
This was the 13th large-scale strike on Ukraine’s energy system this year, the latest in Russia’s campaign targeting the power grid during winter.
Russia meanwhile said five people had died in Ukrainian strikes and from a falling drone in the border region of Kursk and in North Ossetia in the Caucasus.
Ukraine said its air force downed 58 out of 79 Russian-launched missiles. It did not, however, down the two North Korean-made KN-23 ballistic missiles launched by Russia.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the strikes.
“I pay tribute to the resilience of the Ukrainian people, and the leadership of President Zelensky, in the face of further drone and missile attacks from Putin’s bloody and brutal war machine with no respite even at Christmas,” Starmer said.
Kyiv also said a Russian missile went through Moldovan and Romanian airspace, but Romania said it detected no such violation while Moldova said it launched investigations.
‘Nothing sacred’ “Unfortunately, there are some hits. As of now, there are blackouts in several regions,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine’s DTEK energy company said the attack severely damaged equipment at thermal power plants.
“Denying light and warmth to millions of peace-loving people as they celebrate Christmas is a depraved and evil act that must be answered,” DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said, urging allies to send more air defence.
The employee of a Ukrainian thermal power plant was killed in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, over which 42 missiles were shot down, governor Sergiy Lysak said.
Heating cut in several parts of the city of Dnipro, said its mayor Borys Filatov, who added authorities were evacuating and transferring
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