Putin’s Christmas Day blitz: Russian despot accused of orchestrating ‘inhumane’ attack on Ukraine’s energy grid

Vladimir Putin was accused yesterday of orchestrating an “inhumane” attack on Christmas Day, after a wave of attacks pulverized Ukraine’s energy network.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 70 missiles and 100 drones have targeted energy infrastructure sites across the country.

The attack is said to have left hundreds of thousands of people without heating, killing at least four people in four regions and injuring six in the city of Kharkiv.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer joined the chorus of condemnation, saying it demonstrated Russia’s “bloody and brutal war machine” that knew no respite “even at Christmas”.

Zelensky said: “Today Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhumane? More than seventy missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones.’

Despite the nationwide air warnings, he vowed that “Russian evil will not break Ukraine or ruin Christmas.”

The attacks on fuel and energy sources included 78 air, ground and sea missiles, as well as 106 Shaheds and other types of drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Air defenses are said to have shot down 59 Russian missiles and 54 drones on Tuesday and yesterday morning.

The attack is said to have left hundreds of thousands of people without heating, killing at least four people in four regions and injuring six in the city of Kharkiv.

The attacks on fuel and energy sources included 78 air, ground and sea missiles, as well as 106 Shaheds and other types of drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

At least four people were killed in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kherson and Kharkov regions, officials said.

Civilian buildings were also damaged. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said a Russian missile crossed Moldovan and Romanian airspace. The latter said it had not detected any missiles.

Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector since the spring, damaging nearly half of its production capacity and causing prolonged power outages.

After the barrage, half a million people in the Kharkiv region were left without heating, in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero, while there were power outages in Kiev and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in Russia, one woman died and three people were injured by falling debris from a crashed drone that caused a fire at a shopping center in the city of Vladikavkaz – near the Georgian border.

A screen capture from the video shows how a shopping center was damaged after an explosion, killing one person and injuring nine others, the Emergency Situations Ministry said on December 25 in Vladikavkaz, Russia.

A local resident reacts near her neighbor’s house, which was destroyed in a drone strike in Kharkov on December 25, 2024, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States on December 25

Moscow’s Defense Ministry said it had carried out a “massive attack” on what it said were crucial energy facilities supporting Kiev’s “military-industrial complex.”

Sir Keir denounced the attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. He said: “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 ruthless war machine, without delay, not even at Christmas.

“As we enter the new year, it remains critical that we redouble our resolve to place Ukraine in the strongest possible position to end Russia’s illegal aggression against the Ukrainian people.”

Yesterday was only the second time that Ukraine held Christmas on December 25.

The Russian Orthodox Church, which claims sovereignty over Ukrainian Orthodox Christians, celebrates Christmas on January 7, according to the old Julian calendar.

Last year, Mr. Zelensky signed a law moving Ukraine’s Christmas Day to December 25, aiming to abandon the “Russian legacy” of Orthodox Christmas.