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Russia attacked Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure on December 25, causing power outages.
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Zelenskyy called the Christmas Day missile and drone attack “inhumane.”
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Mass attacks on Ukraine’s energy have been a hallmark of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Russia launched an attack on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure on December 25 in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as an “inhumane” move, according to multiple reports.
Zelenskyy said in a Telegram message that more than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles and more than 100 attack drones, were launched at Ukrainian energy targets.
“Every Russian massive strike takes time to prepare. It is never a spontaneous decision. It is a conscious choice not only of targets, but also of time and date,” he said, per the BBC’s translation.
“Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhumane?”
In 2022, Ukraine’s Orthodox Church allowed Christmas to be celebrated on December 25, in what was widely read as a snub to Russia, which largely celebrates on January 7. Much of Ukraine has followed suit since.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy shared several images of firefighters working to tackle the damage in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Ukraine’s forces shot down at least 50 of the missiles and many of the drones, but there were still power outages in several regions as a result of hits, Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s energy minister, German Galushchenko, also said in a Facebook post that the country’s energy industry was under attack on a mass scale, forcing blackouts.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest energy company, called the attack “cynical,” saying it had caused serious damage and had forced energy systems to cut power to the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and Kyiv.
The north-eastern city of Kharkhiv — Ukraine’s second largest — was among the worst hit, according to its mayor, Ihor Terekhov, who said there had been a series of explosions amid massive rocket fire.
Four people have been injured, and a large part of the city was without heating, he said, as of 11 a.m. local time.
Video shared on social media — which Business Insider could not independently verify — appeared to show air raid sirens going off in Kyiv, amid reports that people are sheltering in metro stations.
There were also explosions reported in Kremenchuk, Kryvyi Rih, and Ivano-Frankivsk, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Mass attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure have been a hallmark of Russia’s full-scale invasion. There have been multiple mass strikes throughout the year, and as of November, an estimated two-thirds of the country’s electrical generation capacity had been knocked out.
Representatives for Russia’s Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a Business Insider request for comment.
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