Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure after Russian strikes caused destruction, power outages and at least eight deaths in war-torn areas.
According to Ukraine’s air force, Russia launched 653 drones and 51 missiles overnight, one of the largest air strikes in the nearly four-year war. The targets were Ukrainian energy facilities, railways and residential areas.
Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko confirmed at least eight injuries: three each in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions and two in Lviv.
The attacks coincided with St. Nicholas Day, the traditional start of the Christmas season in Ukraine, and the country’s Armed Forces Day.
“The main targets of these attacks were, once again, energy facilities,” Zelensky wrote on social media.
He said Russia’s goal is “to inflict suffering on millions of Ukrainians, and they have stooped so low as to fire missiles at peaceful cities on St. Nicholas Day.”
Civil infrastructure suffered heavy damage
Officials said the attacks caused widespread damage in the Dnipro, Chernihiv, Zaporizhia, Odessa, Lviv, Volyn and Mykolaiv regions.
In the Odessa region, Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba reported that 9,500 homes were left without heating and 34,000 without water due to damage to local facilities.
One of the most symbolic attacks occurred in the city of Fastiv, southwest of Kiev, where a Russian drone strike burned down the main railway station building.
Although there were no reported injuries, Ukraine’s state rail operator said suburban rail traffic had been disrupted.
Zelensky condemned the Fastiv attack, calling it “meaningless from a military point of view.”
Rolling power outages were introduced across the country to stabilize the grid, which was announced after Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko called an emergency meeting.
Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear plant lost all off-site power overnight before being reconnected, and radiation levels remained normal, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
Russian attacks in Poland
Poland, which borders Ukraine, deployed fighter planes and put air defense systems on standby in response to the attacks.
The Polish Armed Forces High Command said the measures were precautionary but underlined the risk of spread from Russia’s campaign.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the strikes were aimed at Ukraine’s “military-industrial complex enterprises and the energy facilities supporting them”, and insisted that “all specified targets were attacked.”
The Kremlin described the attack as retaliation for alleged Ukrainian attacks on civilian sites inside Russia.
Kiev targets Ryazan oil refinery
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said it struck the Russian Ryazan oil refinery and a shale-casing plant in occupied Luhansk early Saturday.
The latest tensions came as Ukrainian negotiators were meeting with US envoys in Florida for the third consecutive day over a US-drafted plan to end the nearly four-year war.
Britain announced Saturday that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in London on Monday for talks on ending the war.
Despite these efforts, Russia has continued to attack Ukraine’s electricity and heating grids, destroying large parts of its civilian infrastructure.
Western officials have repeatedly warned that Moscow’s winter strategy aims to break Ukrainian morale by depriving millions of people of electricity, heat and water.
As it prepares for further waves of attacks, the Ukrainian government has urged citizens to conserve electricity and prepare for extended outages.
Edited by: Rana Taha