Joe Biden has asked the US defence department to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, describing Russia’s Christmas Day attack against some of Ukraine’s cities and its energy infrastructure as “outrageous”. “The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardise the safety of its grid,” Biden said. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Washington has committed $175bn in aid for Ukraine.
Christmas morning in Ukraine was overshadowed by a massive Russian aerial attack using cruise missiles to target energy infrastructure across the country, which Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as “inhuman”. “Today, 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,” the Ukrainian president said on Telegram.
The attack left half a million people in Kharkiv region without heating, in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero, while there were blackouts in the capital, Kyiv, and elsewhere. “Russian evil will not break Ukraine and will not distort Christmas,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s air defences downed 59 of 78 Russian missiles and 54 of 102 drones launched overnight and on Wednesday morning, the Ukrainian military said.
British prime minister Keir Starmer has also condemned the Russian attack launched on Ukraine’s energy grid, which killed one person. “I condemn this ongoing assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” Starmer said. “I pay tribute to the resilience of the Ukrainian people, and the leadership of President Zelenskyy, in the face of further drone and missile attacks from Putin’s bloody and brutal war machine with no respite even at Christmas.”
Nato member Romania said it had not detected any Russian missile passing through its airspace to target Ukraine, as claimed by Kyiv. “The Romanian military authorities have been informed by the Ukrainian military authorities that, at around 7:30 am, a missile of the Russian Federation forces, which would have impacted in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine, would have flown through the airspace of the Republic of Moldova and, for about two minutes, also through the airspace of Romania,” the defence ministry said.
A Russian cargo ship that sank on Tuesday in the Mediterranean Sea was the target of an “act of terrorism”, according to the vessel’s owner. The Ursa Major sank while it was sailing through international waters between Spain and Algeria, leaving two crew members missing. Its owner, Oboronlogistika – a company affiliated with the Russian defence ministry – described the incident as an “act of terrorism”, without specifying who might be responsible. The Ukrainian navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said Russia faced “systemic problems” in maintaining its fleet but gave no indication that Kyiv was involved in the incident.
Falling debris from a Ukrainian drone that was shot down caused an explosion and a fatal fire in a shopping centre in the city of Vladikavkaz in Russia’s North Ossetia region, the local governor said on Wednesday. Sergei Menyailo said on Telegram that air defence systems had shot down the drone. One woman was reported to have been killed inside the shopping centre.
Russia’s foreign ministry said Australia had been in contact about the possible capture by the Russian army of an Australian citizen fighting with Ukrainian forces. Oscar Jenkins was reportedly captured by Russian soldiers while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed Australian diplomats had been in contact about the possible capture.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a call with the Japanese prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, where he thanked Japan’s government for a decision to transfer an additional $3bn secured from frozen Russian assets. The Ukrainian leader also thanked Japan for the total $12bn in humanitarian and financial aid provided to Ukraine, according to a readout of the Wednesday call.
