Putin ‘inhumane’

Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy system and some cities with cruise and ballistic missiles plus drones yesterday in an “inhuman” Christmas Day assault, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Nearly three years into the war, the strikes wounded at least six people in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and killed one in the region of Dnipropetrovsk, the governors there said.

Half a million people in Kharkiv region were left without heating, in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero, while there were blackouts in the capital Kyiv and elsewhere.

“Today, (Russian President Vladimir) 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,” he said.

“The targets are our energy infrastructure. They continue to fight for a blackout in Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s air force downed 59 Russian launched missiles and 54 drones.

The Russian Defence Ministry said yesterday it had conducted a “massive strike” on what it said were critical energy facilities in Ukraine that support the work of Kyiv’s military-industrial complex.

Russia has intensified attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector since spring of this year, damaging almost half of its generating capacity and causing prolonged blackouts.

Ukraine’s air force said Kharkiv was attacked by ballistic missiles. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram there was damage to civilian non-residential infrastructure, without giving more detail.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said the fatality there occurred in an attack on regional power facilities.

“Since the morning, the Russian army has been massively attacking the Dnipro region. It is trying to destroy the region’s power system,” he said.

Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Facebook that Russia was massively attacking the power sector and that restrictions on electricity supply were in place.