CNN :
Russia launched an “inhumane” attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Christmas Day, with explosions reported across the country, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
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, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Half a million households have been left without heating in the Kharkiv region in temperatures of 3 degrees Celsius (37 degrees Fahrenheit). Kyiv has imposed rolling blackouts to stabilize the grid, DTEK said.
Prior to 2023, most Ukrainians celebrated Christmas on January 7 under the Julian church calendar, but last year Zelensky signed a law formally changing the date as a way of further distancing the country from the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church – and bringing it in line with much of the rest of Europe.
