Air-raid alarms and explosions sounded on Christmas Day in Ukraine as Russian missiles and drones targeted the nation’s energy infrastructure. Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned Ukraine of destruction after the shocking drone attack in Kazan and it seems Moscow has begun its retaliation.
Russia directed more than 70 cruise and ballistic missiles and 100 drone strikes, Ukrainian officials said. As rescue workers and energy repair crews raced to assess the damage. At least six people were wounded in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, and one person was killed in Dnipro, but officials said that the toll from strikes around the country may rise. The Ukrainian military has claimed that its air defense teams have shot down 59 missiles and either shot down or disabled most of the drones used in the attack.
Meanwhile Ukraine’s largest private energy company said the attacks caused serious damage to equipment, and power outages were declared across the country. It is the thirteenth time this year Russia has carried out a major attack on Ukraine’s power grid, according to DTEK, the country’s largest energy provider, leaving it in a precarious position while the war grinds into a third winter.
At least one person died in the attacks in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, while six others were injured in Kharkiv – less than 20 miles from the Russian border – Ukraine’s national police said, adding that residential buildings and civilian infrastructure were damaged in the attack. At least seven missile strikes targeted the city.
Putin’s Wrath
Earlier this month, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service in Moscow when a bomb attached to an electric scooter went off. Ukraine’s Russia said five people had died in Ukrainian attacks and from a falling drone in the border region of Kursk and North Ossetia in the Caucasus on Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday cautioned that Russia would respond to Ukraine’s attacks, carried out with Western missiles and drones. Russia targets only military facilities and infrastructure and “it’s not in our rules to strike civilian targets,” Lavrov said.
Bitter Clash Continues
Russia launched more than 70 missiles on Wednesday, including ballistic missiles, and more than 100 attack drones targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, he said, adding more than 50 missiles were shot down along with a “significant” number of drones.
“Unfortunately, there are hits. As of now, there are blackouts in several regions,” he added.
DTEK said the attacks severely damaged equipment at its thermal power plants across the country.
“This year, it is the thirteenth massive attack on the Ukrainian energy sector and the tenth massive attack on the company’s energy facilities,” the company said, adding its thermal power plants have been shelled more than 200 times since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russia attacked “the energy sector again on a massive scale,” Ukraine’s energy minister German Halushchenko said on his Facebook page. Ukraine’s energy operator imposed emergency blackouts in several parts of the country, the minister added.
The clash between the two countries will soon be entering its third year in February of 2025. Since Donald Trump has won the Presidential election, Ukraine seems to have stepped up in its attack on Russia. First it launched western made ballistic missiles on Russian cities, then then it has resorted to assassinating important Russian military personnel. It seems a clear design to escalate the situation before Trump takes office. Putin had so far remained extremely controlled, however the recent attack on Kazan seems to have been a tipping point. The devastating attack on Christmas is perhaps the beginning of a powerful Russian retaliation, Ukraine had been bent on instigating.
