On Christmas, Kremlin targets Ukrainian energy infrastructure

Pope calls for end to war

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• Pope Francis in his Christmas message on Wednesday called for talks between Ukraine and Russia to end the war that followed Moscow’s full-scale invasion two years ago and has killed tens of thousands
• In his Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) address, Francis mentioned the Ukraine conflict directly and called for “the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation”
• Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, the pope said: “May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine!”

Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy system and some cities with cruise and ballistic missiles plus drones on Wednesday in an “inhuman” Christmas Day assault, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

Nearly three years into the war, the strikes wounded at least six people in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and killed one in the region of Dnipropetrovsk, the governors there said.

Half a million people in Kharkiv region were left without heating, in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero, while there were blackouts in the capital Kyiv and elsewhere. “Today, (Vladimir) Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones,” he said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed it had conducted a “massive strike” on what it said were critical energy facilities supporting the work of Kyiv’s “military-industrial complex”.

“The aim of the strike was achieved. All facilities have been hit,” it said in a statement.

Ukraine’s military said its air defences downed 59 Russian missiles and 54 drones overnight and on Wednesday morning. Ukrainians were marking their second Christmas on Wednesday, according to a new calendar in another step towards erasing Russian influence.