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This is the second Christmas on 25 December for Ukraine
“For the second time, we celebrate Christmas on the same date as one big family, one country,” Ukraine’s President Zelensky said yesterday, on Christmas Eve.
Ukraine had traditionally followed the Julian calendar, like Russia, where Christmas is on 7 January.
But in a move away from Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky changed the law in July 2023.
Since then, Christmas is marked according to the Western – or Gregorian – calendar.
Zelensky said this change allows Ukrainians to “abandon the Russian heritage” of celebrating Christmas in January.
Ukraine’s air force detects 184 missiles and drones in attackpublished at 14:08
Photo/Rueters.
Ukraine’s air force has just given more details on Russia’s Christmas Day attack.
It says Russia targeted Ukrainian energy facilities using “air, ground, and sea-based missiles”, as well as drones. In total, the air force detected 184 “enemy air targets”.
The air force says that according to preliminary data, as of midday local time (10:00 GMT), they’ve shot down 59 missiles and 54 drones (113 in total), and another 52 drones “did not reach their targets”.
The areas with energy facilities attacked include Kharkiv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Zaporizhia.
The Ukraine Air Force also confirms there have been casualties as a result of the attack, although does not say how many.
Russia confirms attack, claiming the ‘goal was achieved’published at 13:46
We’re now getting the first official comment from Russia on its Christmas Day attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence says its forces “carried out a massive strike with long-range precision weapons and strike drones on critical energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine that ensure the operation of the military-industrial complex”.
“The strike’s goal was achieved. All facilities were hit,” it adds.
Kharkiv official says 520,000 people without heating and waterpublished at 13:13
Further to those pictures from Kharkiv, we’re now getting more information about the impact of this morning’s air strikes.
Oleg Sinegubov, head of Kharkiv’s regional administration, reports that 500,000 people in the Kharkiv area are without electricity. Also, 520,000 people are without heating and water.
“We are doing everything possible to restore heat, water, and electricity to people’s homes as quickly as possible,” Sinegubov says.
The official also says a 53-year-old woman died due to “enemy mortar fire”.
Source/BBC