Major Russian attack on Ukraine before Christmas leaves at least three dead, including a child

Kyiv, Ukraine — Russia fired more than 650 drones and three dozen missiles into Ukraine in a large-scale attack that began overnight and lasted through Tuesday, officials said. At least three people were killed, including a 4-year-old child, two days before Christmas.

The barrage hit homes and the power grid in 13 regions of Ukraine, causing widespread outages in freezing temperatures, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, a day after calling recent progress toward a peace deal “pretty solid.”

The bombing demonstrated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intention to continue the invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky said in a message posted on the messaging app Telegram. Ukrainian and European officials have complained that Putin is not sincerely engaging with U.S.-led peace efforts.

The attack “is an extremely clear signal of Russian priorities,” Zelensky said. “A strike before Christmas, when people want to be with their families, at home, safe. A strike, in fact, in the middle of the negotiations that are being carried out to end this war. Putin cannot accept that we must stop killing.”

President Trump has been pushing for a peace deal for months, but negotiations have become entangled in very different demands from Moscow and kyiv.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday he had “productive and constructive” talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives. Mr. Trump was less effusive on Monday, saying: “The talks are moving forward.”

Zelensky said the negotiations resulted in the preparation of “several draft documents”, including on “security guarantees for Ukraine, on recovery and on a basic framework for ending this war. The points… were set in such a way as to correspond to the goal of truly ending the war and the need to prevent a third Russian invasion.”

The Russian attack is costly

Initial reports from Ukrainian emergency services indicated that the child died in the Zhytomyr region in northwest Ukraine, while a drone killed a woman in the kyiv region and another civilian death was recorded in the Khmelnytskyi region in the west, according to Zelenskyy.

Russia launched 635 drones of different types and 38 missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Air defenses stopped 587 drones and 34 missiles, the statement said.

It was the ninth large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy system this year and left several western regions without electricity, while emergency blackouts were in effect across the country, Acting Energy Minister Artem Nekraso said. Work to restore power will begin as soon as the security situation allows, he said.

Ukraine’s largest private energy supplier, DTEK, said the attack targeted thermal power plants. According to him, this is the seventh major strike against the company’s installations since October.

DTEK thermal power plants have been hit more than 220 times since Full-scale invasion of Russia began in February 2022. These attacks killed four workers and injured 59.

Authorities in the western regions of Rivne, Ternopil and Lviv, as well as the northern region of Sumy, reported damage to energy infrastructure or power outages after the attack.

In the southern Odessa region, Russia hit energy, port, transport, industrial and residential infrastructure, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.

A merchant ship and more than 120 houses were damaged, he said.