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At least one person killed and six wounded as Putin launches more than 70 missiles at Ukraine on Christmas Day
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Half a million people have been left without heating in Kharkiv as Vladimir Putin’s forces launched a huge missile and drone attack on Ukraine, condemned as “inhumane” by Volodymyr Zelensky.
The strikes wounded at least six people in the city of Kharkiv and killed one in the region of Dnipropetrovsk, local governors said.
The Ukrainian president said more than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than 100 attack drones were used to strike Ukraine’s power sources. Kyiv managed to shoot down at least 50 missiles and a significant number of drones, he said.
“Putin deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhumane?” Mr Zelensky said. “They continue to fight for a blackout in Ukraine.”
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned the “bloody and brutal” attacks, “with no respite, even at Christmas”.
It came a day after at least one person was killed and 15 injured in Mr Zelensky’s hometown after a ballistic missile struck an apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.
Nato is “not ready” to fight against Vladimir Putin’s Russia without the US, the leaders of the alliance’s three frontline states have told The Independent, as they called on allies to drastically increase defence spending.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, the leaders of Latvia, Estonia and Finland have urged the alliance to stop “endlessly debating” how to cope with the looming threat of Russia, saying it is time to bolster Europe’s defences.
“We are not ready. That’s absolutely clear,” says Latvia president Edgars Rinkevics. “We can’t keep simply hoping for a situation where the US remains much involved in Europe.”
“We have to ramp up our defence capabilities,” Estonian prime minister Kristen Michal adds, “because of Russia’s threat, and its inability to be a democracy and operate in a rule-based world”.
Tom Watling and Millie Cooke have the exclusive report:
Leaders of Finland, Latvia and Estonia tell The Independent that Ukraine’s victory over Russia is vital to the defence of a poorly armed Europe
A large-scale Russian missile and drone attack targeting Ukraine’s energy system on Christmas Day has been condemned as “inhumane” by president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Half a million people were left without heating in Kharkiv in temperatures just a few degrees above freezing, as blackouts were reported in Kyiv and other regions.
At least one person was killed and six others wounded in the attack, described by one Ukrainian energy chief as Vladimir Putin’s “state-sponsored terrorism”.
You can read the full report on today’s events below:
Russia confirmed it fired more than 70 missiles at Ukraine on Christmas Day
Just over 44 per cent of Ukrainians trust US president-elect Donald Trump, around 10 points less than president Joe Biden, a survey by the New Europe Centre showed.
In comparison, a separate June poll by the Pew Research Center suggested that Hungarians trusted Mr Trump the most at 37 percent, followed by Britain at 30 per cent and then France with 16 per cent of the population trusting him.
“This high level of support is likely due to the expectation of a clearer and more decisive policy towards Ukraine from the new US administration,” New Europe Centre researchers said.
Just over 70 per cent of Ukrainians support gradual Nato accession akin to West Germany’s model, a new survey by the Kyiv-based New Europe Centre showed.
This invitation would cover Ukraine, but the alliance’s defensive umbrella would only extend to occupied territories after liberation.
Different Nato accession pathways are gaining traction in both the West and Kyiv as Russia holds a military advantage on the battlefield and the prospect of liberating occupied territories militarily remains slim.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that $1bn reportedly sent to Ukraine by Washington via the World Bank and covered by profits generated by frozen Russian assets amounted to theft.
“This money has been stolen from us. And those reserves that are blocked, they are also blocked absolutely illegally. This is contrary to all norms and rules,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
“Such illegal actions, including the transfer of this billion, may, of course, in the long term become a reason for our legal action. And we will, of course, use every opportunity to protect our rights and our property rights.”
Moldova’s president has condemned the violation of its airspace by a Russian missile, as Vladimir Putin’s forces launched vast attacks on Ukraine.
Maia Sandu said: “While our countries celebrate Christmas, the Kremlin chooses destruction — targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and violating Moldova’s airspace with a missile, actions that clearly violate international law.
“Moldova condemns these actions and stands in full solidarity with Ukraine.”
A woman is reported to have been killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
The Kupiansk prosecutor’s office said it had opened a pre-trial war crimes investigation after a 53-year-old woman was killed by Russian shelling on the village of Novoosinove, which damaged residential homes and outbuildings, broadcaster Suspilne reported.
In a comment piece for Independent Voices, historian Mark Almond writes:
Ukrainians faced another barrage of Russian rockets and drones on Christmas Day, showing that Vladimir Putin’s war grinds on regardless of the calendar.
You may think – as a born-again Russian Orthodox believer – Putin is saving the season of goodwill for 7 January. Unlike Ukraine (which dropped the old Orthodox calendar and adopted 25 December as its holiday), Putin’s Russia cleaves to old imperial Russian tradition.
But changing the date of Christmas was not so much a theological realignment with the Catholic West, as a geopolitical signal of Kyiv’s determination to integrate with Nato and the EU.
That is, of course, a red rag to Putin.
And behind the Kremlin’s insistence on fighting to save the Russian “soul” of a Western-drifting Ukraine, there are crude practical benefits of seizing the territory where today’s fighting is worst.
Behind the Kremlin’s insistence on fighting to save the Russian ‘soul’ of a western-drifting Ukraine, there are crude practical benefits from seizing the territory where today’s fighting is worst, writes Mark Almond
Authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region have declared a region-wide emergency, saying that oil was still washing up on the coastline 10 days after two ageing tankers ran into trouble.
The oil is from the tankers which were hit by a storm on 15 December. One of the vessels split in half, while the other ran aground.
The pollution, which has coated sandy beaches at and around Anapa, a popular summer resort, has caused serious problems for seabirds and everything from dolphins to porpoises and over 10,000 people have been trying to clear it up.
Veniamin Kondratiev, governor of the Krasnodar region, said that he had decided to declare a region-wide emergency because oil was still polluting the coastline in the Anapa and Temryuk districts.
Ukrainian drones have recently destroyed an ammunition depot at the Kadamovsky military training ground in Russia’s Rostov region, a source in Ukraine’s SBU security service told the Kyiv Independent.
“It was used by the enemy to supply its troops in the Kramatorsk sector [in Ukraine’s Donetsk region],” the source was quoted as saying.
“Now the Russians have significant logistical difficulties, which significantly affect their ability to conduct combat operations.”
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