Air-raid alarms and explosions sounded on Christmas Day in Ukraine as Russian missiles and drones targeted the nation’s energy infrastructure.
“Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas for an attack,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement. “What could be more inhumane?”
Before dawn Wednesday, Russia directed more than 70 cruise and ballistic missiles and 100 strike drones, Ukrainian officials said. As rescue workers and energy repair crews raced to assess the damage in the morning, alarms sounded again and more missiles streaked through the skies. At least six people were wounded in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, and one person was killed in Dnipro, but officials said that the toll from strikes around the country may rise.
The Ukrainian military said air defense teams shot down 59 missiles and either shot down or disabled most of the drones used in the attack. Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK said the attacks caused serious damage to equipment emergency, and power outages were declared across the country.
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It was the 13th large-scale bombardment of the Ukrainian energy grid this year in a campaign that has left the country’s energy network devastated and forced authorities to turn to unconventional measures to try to prevent a total collapse of the grid.
Ukrainians are exhausted by years of bombardments and mourning the loss of tens of thousands fighting on the front. Instead of getting a reprieve this Christmas, many Ukrainians were huddled in bomb shelters, not celebrating with friends and family.
Nika Chervonna (26) said she was planning to spend Christmas with friends, but after a missile strike in her hometown, Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, on Christmas Eve and more explosions in the morning, she cancelled her plans and “decided to stay home with my dog”.
As Russia tries to undermine Ukraine’s will to fight, the number of civilians killed over the past year has soared.
The latest attacks came as rescue workers were still combing through the rubble after a missile struck an apartment building in Kryvyi Rih on Christmas Eve, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others, according to local officials.
The Ukrainian government passed a law in 2023 changing the date of Christmas to December 25th, from January 7th, the traditional Orthodox date that Russians celebrate. It was part of a broader effort in Ukraine to reclaim its own identity and has been embraced by many across the country.
At the Church of St Nicholas in Kyiv, a Catholic cathedral that had its windows blown out after a missile slammed into the heart of the capital on Friday, white tarps were strung up on the ceiling to catch falling debris as people gathered for Christmas Mass.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.