Russia targets Ukrainian energy infrastructure during Christmas Day attack

Russia launched a massive missile and drone barrage targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure on Wednesday, striking a thermal power plant and prompting Ukrainians to take shelter in metro stations on Christmas morning.

The strikes on Ukrainian fuel and energy sources included 78 air-, ground- and sea-launched missiles, as well as 106 Shaheds and other types of drones, Ukraine's air force said. It claimed to have intercepted 59 missiles and 54 drones, with 52 more drones being jammed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that Russian President Vladimir Putin "deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhumane? They continue to fight for a blackout in Ukraine." 

In Russia, meanwhile, one woman died and three people were wounded after falling debris from a downed drone sparked a fire in a shopping mall in the city of Vladikavkaz.

The head of Russia's republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Sergey Menyaylo, said security footage showed that the explosion took place outside the Alania Mall Wednesday morning.

At least one person was killed in Russia's attack on Ukraine's Dnipro region, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on messaging app Telegram, adding that heating was disrupted for 155 residential buildings in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. He also said 500,000 recipients or 2,677 buildings in Kharkiv region were without heat.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said one Russian missile passed Moldovan and Romanian airspace. 

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said Russia again "massively attacks energy infrastructure," in a Facebook statement. Ukraine's Air Force alerted multiple missiles fired at Kharkiv, Dnipro and Poltava regions east of the country. 

Halushchenko said the power distributor took the necessary measures to limit consumption. "As soon as the security situation allows, energy workers will establish the damage caused," he said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday 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.

"The aim of the strike was achieved. All facilities have been hit," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Russian forces had also taken control of the settlement of Vidrodzhennia in eastern Ukraine.

In a statement, U.S. President Joe Biden denounced the "outrageous" attack and said he'd asked the U.S. Defence Department to push forward with a new surge of military aid to Kyiv.

"Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman," Biden's statement said. "More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones."

More than a dozen attacks on Ukraine's power grid

Ukraine's biggest private energy company, DTEK, said Russia struck one of their thermal power plants Wednesday morning, making it the 13th attack on Ukraine's power grid this year.

"Denying light and warmth to millions of peace-loving people as they celebrate Christmas is a depraved and evil act that must be answered," Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, wrote on X.

Ukrainian state energy operator, Ukrenergo, applied preemptive power outages across the country, due to a "massive missile attack," leading to electricity going out in several districts of the capital, Kyiv.

At least seven strikes targeted Kharkiv, sparking fires across the city, regional head Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. At least three people were injured, local authorities said.

"Kharkiv is under massive missile fire. A series of explosions rang out in the city and there are still ballistic missiles flying in the direction of the city. Stay in safe places," Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Russia's Defence Ministry said in its report Wednesday it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Bryansk and Tambov regions, as well as over the Azov Sea. It did not mention the incident in North Ossetia-Alania.

Four people were also killed as a result of Ukrainian shelling in the town of Lgov in the Kursk region, regional head Alexander Khinshtein said. Three people died after several residential blocks and a beauty salon were hit, he said. Another person later died in a hospital.