By Gloria Ogbonna
Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, firing more than 650 drones and several dozen missiles in a coordinated attack that began overnight and continued into daylight hours on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said.
The widespread bombardment killed at least three civilians, including a 4-year-old child, just two days before Christmas, further deepening the humanitarian toll of the nearly three-year-old war.
According to Ukrainian authorities, the attack targeted homes, critical infrastructure, and the national power grid across 13 regions of the country. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes caused extensive electricity outages during freezing winter temperatures, leaving many families without heat or power.
The assault came just one day after Zelenskyy described recent progress toward a potential peace agreement as “quite solid.”
In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Zelenskyy said the scale and timing of the attack underscored Russian President Vladimir Putin’s determination to continue the invasion despite ongoing diplomatic efforts. Ukrainian and European leaders have repeatedly accused Moscow of failing to engage sincerely in U.S.-led negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.
“This attack is an extremely clear signal of Russian priorities,” Zelenskyy wrote. “A strike before Christmas, when people want to be with their families, at home, in safety.
A strike, in fact, in the midst of negotiations that are being conducted to end this war. Putin cannot accept the fact that we must stop killing.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has spent months pushing for a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow, though talks have been complicated by sharply opposing demands from both sides. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that he held “productive and constructive” discussions in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives. Trump struck a more reserved tone on Monday, saying simply, “The talks are going along.”
Ukrainian emergency services reported that the 4-year-old child was killed in the northwestern Zhytomyr region. In addition, a woman was killed by a drone strike in the Kyiv region, while another civilian death was recorded in the western Khmelnytskyi region, Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched a total of 635 drones of various types along with 38 missiles during the assault. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 587 drones and 34 missiles, preventing even greater destruction, according to military officials.
The attack marked the ninth large-scale strike on Ukraine’s energy system this year. Acting Energy Minister Artem Nekraso said multiple western regions were left without electricity, while emergency power outages were implemented nationwide to stabilize the grid. Restoration efforts will begin as soon as security conditions allow, he said.
Ukraine’s largest private energy provider, DTEK, said the assault targeted its thermal power stations, calling it the seventh major strike on the company’s facilities since October. DTEK reported that its thermal plants have been hit more than 220 times since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Those attacks have killed four company workers and wounded 59 others.
Regional officials reported damage to energy infrastructure and power outages in the western regions of Rivne, Ternopil, and Lviv, as well as in the northern Sumy region. In the southern Odesa region, regional head Oleh Kiper said Russian forces struck energy facilities, ports, transportation hubs, industrial sites, and residential areas.
A merchant ship and more than 120 homes were damaged in Odesa alone, Kiper said, adding to the growing list of civilian and economic losses as Ukraine endures another winter under sustained aerial assault.
Source Breitbrat
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