Russia carried out a series of overnight air attacks on Kyiv and key energy infrastructure targets as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians to prepare for the possibility of Christmas day strikes.
Ukrainian air defense officials said Russian troops were carrying out a combined attack using cruise missiles and strike drones on December 23, with a large-scale air raid alert declared across the country.
Zelenskyy stated that Russia launched over 650 drones and more than 30 missiles in the overnight attack on Ukraine.
"An attack carried out essentially in the midst of negotiations aimed at ending this war. Putin still cannot accept that he must stop killing. And that means that the world is not putting enough pressure on Russia," he added.
Zelenskyy warned that Russia was likely to intensify attacks over the holiday period. Ukraine now officially marks Christmas on December 25, aligning with Western traditions, though many Orthodox Christians continue to observe it on January 7, as in Russia.
"We understand that precisely on these days they may – this is in their nature – carry out massive strikes on Christmas," Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X.
As a result of the attack on Kyiv, a five-story building was damaged, with four people were injured, including a teenage girl who was hospitalized, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko.
One person was killed and three others, including a child, were injured as a result of Russian attacks on the Kyiv region, the Ukraine Emergency Service reported on December 23.
According to local authorities, a person was killed in the western Ukrainian region of Khmelnytsky, while a child was killed and five others were injured in the northwestern Zhytomyr region as a result of Russian attacks.
"Air defense units are countering the aerial threat over the capital," Kyiv's military administration said. It urged residents to remain in shelters until the all-clear was issued.
Russia's Defense Ministry issued a statement on December 23, confirming the launch of a "massive strike" on Ukraine using the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and long-range strike drones "against enterprises of Ukraine's military-industrial complex and energy facilities that support their operations."
Overnight, Russian forces conducted another drone attack on Ukraine's northern Sumy region, hitting civilian infrastructure and causing power outages, according to regional authorities.
Separately, authorities in the Black Sea port of Odesa reported a second drone attack in less than 24 hours late on December 22, damaging port infrastructure and a civilian vessel.
"Russia is attacking our energy infrastructure again," the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said.
"As a result, emergency power cuts have been introduced in several regions of Ukraine."
Romania's Defense Ministry reported that Russian drones attacked Ukrainian ports near the Romanian border overnight, triggering alerts in the municipalities of Tulcea and Galati.
However, the ministry stated that there were no airspace violations.
No Breakthrough In Talks, Says Russia
In his December 23 statement, Zelenskyy said his negotiating team had delivered a detailed report on their meetings with the American team.
"They worked productively with envoys of President Trump, and several draft documents have now been prepared," he said.
"In particular, these include documents on security guarantees for Ukraine, on recovery, and on a basic framework for ending this war," Zelenskyy added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the Russia–US talks in Miami were not a breakthrough but part of a working process.
He noted that the goal was to hear the American position after talks with Europeans and Ukrainians, and to see how it aligns with the spirit of the Anchorage meeting, referring to the August summit between US and Russian leaders in Alaska.
Zelenskyy On Ukraine's Security Guarantees
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine's security guarantees should include several pillars: "The Armed Forces of Ukraine – an army of 800,000 – which requires funding," "membership in the European Union" for economic and military security, and a Coalition of the Willing of 30 countries to ensure security "in the air, on land, and at sea."
Additionally, legally binding US security guarantees approved by Congress that would include long-term commitments and a deterrence package defining how Ukraine's army is equipped and supported.
Meanwhile, European Commission announced it had disbursed an additional €2.3 billion ($2.7 billion) in financial assistance to Ukraine "to support the country's finances and public administration."
The commission said this is the sixth regular payment under the Ukraine Facility, the bloc's key instrument for supporting Ukraine's recovery, reforms and path towards EU membership.
"Ukraine is delivering real reforms at remarkable speed despite Russia's aggression. Through the Ukraine Facility, the EU is driving reforms that bring Ukraine closer to the EU while supporting critical needs, including winter energy security," European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said, according to a statement released by the commission.
Meanwhile, in Russia, an overnight Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at an industrial facility in the southern Stavropol region, local authorities said on December 23.
In the Russia's Krasnodar region, the fire resulting from the drone attacks on the fuel oil supply pipeline at the Black Sea port of Taman has been completely extinguished, the regional authorities reported.
Ukraine has regularly hit the Krasnodar region, targeting energy assets that Kyiv says fund and fuel the Kremlin's war effort.
With reporting from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, Reuters, and dpa
