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Russia attacked Ukraine’s power system on Christmas Day, leaving more than half a million consumers without heating, water and electricity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack, the 13th large-scale attack on the country’s grid in 2024, was “deliberate” and not accidental. “What could be more inhuman?” He wrote on X.
About 50 of the 70 missiles fired in the attack were intercepted, and more than 100 attack drones were captured along with a “significant” part of them, Zelensky added.
This year, Ukrainians celebrated Christmas on December 25 for the second time after switching to the Western Gregorian calendar last year. On January 7, he decided to stop celebrating Christmas according to the Orthodox calendar in order to break away from Russian influence in Kiev.
Oleh Siniehubov, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, told Ukrainian National TV News that the attack left more than half a million consumers without heating, water and electricity.
Temperatures in Ukraine are on the cold side.
Heating supplies were cut off in parts of Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions in the west and south of the country.
Ukraine’s energy grid operator Ukrainergo urged consumers to limit consumption by not turning on multiple appliances at once, saying the system was still recovering from the December 13 Russian attack.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, Detek, has reported damage to its power stations and the death of one of its longtime employees.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha said on X that the attack shows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response to those who “talked about an illusory ‘Christmas ceasefire.’
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said last week that Zelensky had rejected the January 7 Orthodox Christmas ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
Ukraine said such a proposal was on the table and asked Hungary to “refrain from deception” regarding the war. On Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhi Tykyi described it as “PR, a step taken” by Orban.
