Russia launched a Christmas Day attack on Ukraine’s energy system
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Russia carried out a Christmas Day attack on Ukraine’s energy system, leaving more than half a million people without heat, water and electricity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said attackThe 13th large-scale attack in 2024 on the national power grid is “intentional” and not accidental. “What could be more inhumane?” he wrote on X.
About 50 of the 70 missiles fired in the attack were intercepted, he added, along with a “significant” portion of the more than 100 attack drones deployed.
Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, told Ukrainian national television that the attack left more than 500,000 people without heating, water and electricity.
In a statement released by the White House, US President Joe Biden “The people of Ukraine deserve to live in peace and safety, and the United States and the international community must continue to stand with Ukraine until it overcomes Russian aggression,” said.
Biden added that he had directed the Department of Defense to “continue to increase weapons supplies to Ukraine.”
Heating supplies were also cut off in parts of Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, in the west and south of the country. Temperatures across Ukraine are freezing.
Ukrainian energy grid operator Ukrenergo urged consumers to limit consumption by not turning on multiple appliances at once, adding that the system was still recovering from the previous attack. of Russia on December 13.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said its power plants were damaged and a longtime employee of the company was killed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on X that the attack reflected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reaction to “those who talk about a delusional ‘Christmas ceasefire'”.
This year Ukrainians celebrate Christmas Day on December 25 for the second time, after switching to the Western Gregorian calendar last year. The decision to stop celebrating Christmas on January 7 according to the Orthodox calendar was made by Kyiv to cut off Russian influence.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said last week that Zelenskyy rejected his offer of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange on Orthodox Christmas on January 7.
Ukraine denied that such a proposal was ever put on the negotiating table, and asked Hungary to “refrain from manipulation” regarding the war. On Friday, Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, described it as “PR, a move” by Orbán.
