Here is more from the Russian defence ministry on its attack on Ukraine.
In a statement it said:
This morning the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a massive strike with long-range precision weapons and strike drones against critical facilities of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that support the work of the military-industrial complex.
The aim of the strike was achieved. All facilities have been hit.
Updated at 06.34 EST
Key events
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Russian attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro have left homes without power or heat and forced the evacuation of a hospital.
More than a hundred patients of one of the city’s hospitals are being evacuated and transferred to other medical facilities in Dnipro, the city’s mayor Borys Filatov said on Wednesday.
In a statement posted to Telegram, he said about 65 homes are still without heat and that seven education institutions were damaged as a result of the Russian attack. He added:
Unfortunately, we will have to evacuate one of the city’s hospitals again, where more than a hundred patients are staying. They will be distributed to other medical institutions in Dnipro.
Russia’s inflation has reached 9.5% this year, according to new weekly data following the central bank’s unexpected decision last week to maintain its key interest rate at 21%.
Citing the statistical agency Rosstat, Reuters reports that seasonally volatile prices for fruit and vegetables contributed significantly to the overall increase, with cucumber prices rising by 8.3% and tomato prices by 1.9% in just one week.
The price of eggs increased by 1.7%, and frozen fish by 1.4%, according to the agency.
The central bank had initially estimated this year’s inflation at a maximum of 8.5%.
Updated at 12.32 EST
Here are some of the latest images sent from the newswires from Kyiv, where Ukrainians have been taking part in a Christmas procession.
Ukrainians wearing traditional clothes take part in a Christmas procession in Kyiv. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty ImagesMykhailivska Square in Kyiv, on 25 December 2024. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty ImagesA Christmas procession in Kyiv, on 25 December 2024. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 12.12 EST
Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a call with Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday.
During the call, the Ukrainian president thanked the Japanese prime minister for the government’s decision to transfer an additional $3bn secured from frozen Russian assets.
A readout of the call by Zelenskyy’s office states that he thanked Japan for the total $12bn in humanitarian and financial aid provided to Ukraine.
A statement by Zelenskyy reads:
I am grateful for the Japanese government’s decision to transfer another $3bn to Ukraine, secured by frozen Russian assets, and for additional assistance for energy equipment and the construction of shelters. We agreed to meet to continue the dialogue.
Updated at 11.51 EST
Russia’s foreign ministry has accused Nato of trying to turn Moldova into a logistical centre to supply the Ukrainian army.
Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian ministry of foreign affairs, cited what she said was a large transfer of weapons to Moldova in recent months, Reuters reported.
She also accused the western alliance of seeking to bring its military infrastructure closer to Russia.
ShareAfternoon summary
Russia conducted a large-scale attack on Ukraine energy system and cities in its eastern region with cruise and ballistic missiles, Ukrainian officials said.
President Zelenskyy condemned the attacks: “Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas for an attack. What could be more inhuman? Over 70 missiles, including ballistic ones, and more than a hundred attack drones. The targets are our energy infrastructure.”
After the attack, Reuters reported that half a million people in Kharkiv region were left without heating on Christmas Day, in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero. Meanwhile there were blackouts in the capital Kyiv and elsewhere.
The Russian defence ministry confirmed it was responsible for the attacks. In a statement it said: “The Russian Federation launched a massive strike with long-range precision weapons and strike drones against critical facilities of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that support the work of the military-industrial complex”. It added: “The aim of the strike was achieved. All facilities have been hit.”
Ukraine’s air force said the strikes included 78 air, ground, and sea-launched missiles as well as 106 Shaheds and other types of drones. It claimed to have intercepted 59 missiles and 54 drones, with 52 more drones being jammed.
Ukraine’s energy minister German Galushchenko said on Facebook that Russia “is massively attacking the power sector” and that the transmission system operator had imposed restrictions on electricity supply to minimise the impact.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, whose equipment was severely damaged in the attack, said on the Telegram messaging app: “This year, it is the 13th massive attack on the Ukrainian energy sector and the 10th massive attack on the company’s energy facilities.”
UK prime minister Keir Starmer condemned the attacks and paid tribute to the “resilience of the Ukrainian people, and the leadership of president Zelenskyy, in the face of further drone and missile attacks from Putin’s bloody and brutal war machine, with no respite, even at Christmas”.
US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, said: “Russia’s Christmas gift to Ukraine: more than 70 missiles and 100 drones, directed at Ukrainian families celebrating in their homes and the energy infrastructure that keeps them. For the third holiday season, Russia weaponizes winter.”
At least four civilians have been killed by recent Russian attacks in Ukraine, the BBC has reported. Citing local officials and the Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, one person was killed in Dnipropetrovsk in a shelling attack (yesterday) with the other fatalaties reported today in Donetsk, Kherson and Kharkiv.
The Russian defence ministry said that Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Vidrodzhennia in eastern Ukraine.
One woman was killed after falling debris from a Ukrainian drone that was shot down caused an explosion and a fatal fire in a shopping centre in the city of Vladikavkaz in Russia’s North Ossetia region, the local governor said.
Moldova’s president Maia Sandu said a Russian missile “violated” Moldova’s airspace. Posting on X, she said: “While our countries celebrate Christmas, 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 acts and stands in full solidarity with Ukraine.”
Four people were killed and five people were injured in the town of Lgov in Russia’s Kursk region after Ukrainian shelling, the region’s acting governor said on Wednesday.
Russia has lost 779,320 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, including 1,600 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on 25 December.
A Russian cargo ship which sank in the Mediterranean Sea this week was the victim of “an act of terrorism,” state news agency RIA has reported citing Oboronlogistika, the ship’s ultimate owner.
Pope Francis has called for an end to the war in Ukraine in his traditional Christmas Day address in Rome saying: “May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine. May there be the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation and to gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.”
Moscow is looking into reports that the Russian army may have captured an Australian citizen fighting with Ukrainian forces. Oscar Jenkins was reportedly captured by Russian soldiers while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region.
Updated at 11.05 EST
Ilya Yashin was released from Russia in an historic prisoner swaps between Russia and the West. Photograph: Ralf Hirschberger/AFP/Getty Images
Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who was released in a prisoner swap by Moscow in August, has been placed on Russia’s “wanted” list, according to an interior ministry database seen by AFP.
“Wanted under a criminal code article,” reads the website, along with a photograph of Yashin and his date and place of birth.
The former Moscow councillor is also labelled as a “foreign agent”, a designation typically applied to opponents of president Vladimir Putin.
Yashin, 41, was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison at the end of 2022 for denouncing “the murder of civilians” in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
The liberal sat on Moscow’s city council at the time and had fought alongside opposition figures like Alexei Navalny, who died in detention in February 2024, and Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015.
Yashin was released on 1 August as part of a historic prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, alongside other Russian opposition figures and American journalist Evan Gershkovich, a former AFP Moscow correspondent.
Since then, he has been involved in the Russian opposition movement in exile, taking part in a protest against the conflict in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin in Berlin in November.
Russia’s wanted persons list is extensive and includes both Russian and foreign personalities, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs said that Australia had contacted Moscow about the possible capture by the Russian army of an Australian citizen fighting with Ukrainian forces.
Oscar Jenkins was reportedly captured by Russian soldiers while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region.
During a weekly news briefing in Moscow on Wednesday, Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed Australian diplomats had been in contact about the possible capture.
“Efforts are currently underway to verify reports of the captured Australian citizen,” she said, according to Russian news agency Tass.
“We are monitoring the situation alongside the relevant agencies.”
Pro-Russian Telegram channels last week posted an unverified video allegedly showing the interrogation of the captured Australian by Russian forces.
Updated at 10.55 EST
Russian cargo ship which sank off Spanish coast was victim of ‘terrorism’ – RIAThe Ursa Major pictured in Istanbul in 2023. Photograph: Yoruk Isik/Reuters
A Russian cargo ship which sank in the Mediterranean Sea was the victim of “an act of terrorism,” state news agency RIA has reported.
The ship, called Ursa Major, sank between Spain and Algeria after an explosion ripped through its engine room leaving two of its 16 crew missing, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
RIA cited Oboronlogistika, the ship’s ultimate owner and a company that is part of the Russian Defence Ministry’s military construction operations, as saying the vessel had been targeted in “a terrorist act.”
Oboronlogistika had previously said that the ship had been en route to the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.
Updated at 10.02 EST
At least four civilians have been killed by recent Russian attacks in Ukraine, the BBC has reported.
Citing local officials and the Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, one person was killed in Dnipropetrovsk in a shelling attack (yesterday) with the other fatalaties reported today in Donetsk, Kherson and Kharkiv.
Russia has lost 779,320 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, including 1,600 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on 25 December.
According to the report, Russia has also lost:
9,628 tanks
19,923 armoured fighting vehicles
32,117 vehicles and fuel tanks
21,333 artillery systems
1,256 multiple launch rocket systems
1,030 air defence systems
369 aircraft
329 helicopters
20,908 drones
28 ships and boats
1 submarine
ShareKeir Starmer condems Russia’s strikes on UkraineUK prime minister Keir Starmer. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/PA
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has condemned Russia’s strikes on Ukraine:
I pay tribute to the resilience of the Ukrainian people, and the leadership of president Zelenskyy, in the face of further drone and missile attacks from Putin’s bloody and brutal war machine, with no respite, even at Christmas.
He added:
As we go into the New Year, it remains vital that we redouble our resolve to place Ukraine in the strongest possible position to end Russia’s illegal aggression against the Ukrainian people.
ShareMap of Ukraine Map of UkraineShareMoldova says Russian missile ‘violated’ its airspaceMoldovan President Maia Sandu. Photograph: Dumitru Doru/EPA
Moldova’s president Maia Sandu said a Russian missile was detected in its airspace.
Posting on X, she said:
While our countries celebrate Christmas, 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 acts and stands in full solidarity with Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Nato member Romania said it had not detected any Russian missile passing through its airspace to target Ukraine as claimed by Kyiv.
Here are some more details on Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s energy system.
The strikes 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.
SharePope calls for end to the war in UkrainePope Francis delivers the Urbi et Orbi message and blessing from the main balcony of St Peter’s Basilica as part of Christmas celebrations, at St Peter’s square in the Vatican. Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images
Pope Francis has called for an end to the war in Ukraine in his traditional Christmas Day address in Rome.
He said:
May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine. May there be the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation and to gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.
Here are some images coming to us over the wires from Ukraine.
Military chaplain Yurii of 24th Mechanized Brigade holds a Christmas Day service for soliders near the frontline town of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/APServicemen from Ukraine’s 33rd Mechanised Brigade preparue a festive dinner on Christmas Eve in a shelter on the frontline in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Photograph: Volodymyr Petrov/APA Ukrainian chaplain of Khartya brigade, stands by the tree a fellow serviceman’s family on Christmas Eve. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesShare
One woman was killed after falling debris from a Ukrainian drone that was shot down caused an explosion and a fatal fire in a shopping centre in the city of Vladikavkaz in Russia’s North Ossetia region, the local governor said on Wednesday.
Sergei Menyailo, the regional governor, wrote on his official Telegram account that air defence systems had shot down the drone at 0828 Moscow time (0528 GMT), Reuters reports.
Here is more from the Russian defence ministry on its attack on Ukraine.
In a statement it said:
This morning the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a massive strike with long-range precision weapons and strike drones against critical facilities of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that support the work of the military-industrial complex.
The aim of the strike was achieved. All facilities have been hit.
Updated at 06.34 EST