Live blog: Latest Russian strikes killed several, injured dozens in Ukraine

Sunday, December 25, 2022

At least 16 killed, dozens injured in Ukraine

At least 16 people have been killed and 72 injured by strikes in Ukraine's Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions, authorities said.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, used Telegram to announce the casualties that occurred on Saturday, citing regional military administrations. Tymoshenko noted that all the deaths were in Kherson, though the numbers of casualties differed among sources.

Kherson Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych confirmed on Telegram that 16 people were killed in the region, adding that another 64 were injured in the entire region.

Ukraine gives all-clear after air-raid alarms

Air raid sirens wailed in Kiev and across all Ukrainian regions this morning but no new Russian attacks were reported, officials said. The all-clear was later given.

Unconfirmed Ukrainian social media reports suggested the sirens may have been triggered after Russian jets took to the skies in Belarus and that the all-clear was sounded after the planes returned to their bases. Reuters was unable to verify those reports.

Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine's air forces, told national television earlier that Russian military jets were flying virtually around the clock.

Putin: Russia will destroy US Patriot missiles in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was "100 percent" confident that his forces would destroy the Pentagon's most advanced air defence system that US President Joe Biden has promised to send to Ukraine.

"Of course we will destroy it, 100 percent!" Putin said, referring to the Patriot missile battery in extracts of an interview aired on Russian television.

At Christmas, Pope urges end to 'senseless' Ukraine war

Pope Francis has appealed for an end to the "senseless" war in Ukraine in his traditional Christmas Day message broadcast around the world.

The head of the Catholic Church also urged an end to the use of "food as a weapon" of war, noting the Ukraine conflict had put "entire peoples at risk of famine".

"We know that every war causes hunger and exploits food as a weapon... (let us) starting with those who hold political responsibilities, commit ourselves to making food solely an instrument of peace," he said.

Putin says Russia ready to negotiate over Ukraine

Russia is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine but Kiev and its Western backers had refused to engage in talks, President Vladimir Putin has said.

"We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them - we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are," Putin told state television in an interview.

"I believe that we are acting in the right direction, we are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people. And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens," Putin said.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine will 'endure this winter'

Ukrainians will create their own miracle this Christmas by showing they remain unbowed despite Russian attacks that have plunged millions into darkness, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said in a defiant message .

Speaking 10 months to the day since Russian launched a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions more, Zelenskyy said that while freedom came at a high price, slavery would cost even more.

"We endured at the beginning of the war — we withstood attacks, threats, nuclear blackmail, terror, missile strikes. We will endure this winter because we know what we are fighting for," he said.

Zelenskyy made his remarks in a video address to Ukrainians who celebrate Christmas in December. Most Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians and mark the occasion in early January. 

"Even in complete darkness, we will find each other to hug each other tightly. And if there is no heat, we will embrace each other for a long time to warm one another," he said.

Russia claims US has military biological activities in Ukraine

Russia has in its possession a report by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency that details Washington's military biological activities in Ukraine, a senior Russian military chief has claimed.

The report discloses the names, positions of specialists and managers of biological projects, laboratories involved and facts confirming the conduct of exercises and training on counteracting pathogens of particularly dangerous infections, Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian radiation, chemical and biological protection troops said at a news conference in Moscow.

"The report contains information about three Pentagon contractors, personal data of thirty laboratory employees and seven managers from the US Defense Department.

"All of them, one way or another, are beneficiaries of the Pentagon's biological projects and are associated with the US Democratic Party, whose leaders are the ideological inspirers of military biological research and the creators of secret money laundering schemes in the interests of a narrow circle of representatives of the American elite," he said.

For live updates from Saturday (December 24), click here.