Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
At least three people have been killed, and 12 others injured in a massive Russian missile and drone attack on multiple oblasts of Ukraine overnight on Dec. 23.
The assault once again targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and Rivne, Ternopil, and Khmelnytskyi oblasts in the country’s west “are almost completely without electricity,” the Energy Ministry said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia launched more than 650 drones and over three dozen missiles targeting “the entire infrastructure of life.” At least 13 oblasts were under attack, Zelensky said.
In Zhytomyr Oblast, the attack killed a four-year-old child, and injured five people, Vitaliy Bunechko, head of the Zhytomyr Oblast Military Administration, reported.
In Kyiv Oblast, one person was killed and three others injured, Governor Mykola Kalashnyk reported.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko said that four people were injured in the city’s Sviatoshynskyi district, where a five-storey apartment building was damaged.
Ukrainian State Emergency Service workers conduct a rescue operation in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Dec. 23, 2025, following a Russian mass attack. (Telegram / Ukraine State Emergency Services)
In Khmelnytskyi Oblast, one person was killed, Governor Serhii Tiurin said.
In Rivne Oblast, approximately 300,000 consumers were left without electricity due to damage to a power facility, according to Governor Oleksandr Koval.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said that emergency power outages have been implemented in several regions across the country amid Russia’s targeting of energy infrastructure.
“As soon as the security situation allows, rescue teams and energy specialists will begin addressing the consequences of the attack to restore electricity supply in the regions as quickly as possible,” the Energy Ministry said in a statement.
Russian strikes damaged thermal power plants facilities operated by Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, the company said in a statement, the seventh such attack since October.
“This Russian strike sends an extremely clear signal about Russia’s priorities.”
Lviv Oblast Governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, said that Russia attacked a critical energy infrastructure facility in the region.
In Odesa Oblast, energy, port, transport, industrial, and residential infrastructures were damaged, Governor Oleh Kiper reported. In the Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts, Russian attacks damaged critical and civilian infrastructure, governors Viacheslav Chaus and Oleh Hryhorov reported.
Explosions also were reported in the western communities of Burshtyn and Rohatyn, both located in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, as well as on the outskirts of the city of Cherkasy, public broadcaster Suspilne reported.
The attack comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Ukrainians should brace for mass Russian missile and drone strikes over the Christmas period.
A firefighter puts out a fire in Kyiv Oblast on Dec. 23, 2025, following a Russian mass attack. (Telegram / Ukraine State Emergency Services)
“This Russian strike sends an extremely clear signal about Russia’s priorities. An attack ahead of Christmas, when people simply want to be with their families, at home, and safe,” Zelensky said.
“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.”
Russia rejected a Christmas truce because it could give Ukraine a temporary respite, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Dec. 16.
Peskov’s comment came after numerous temporary truces on religious holidays, including those initiated by Moscow, were previously broken by Russian forces.
Russian forces have regularly attacked Ukrainian cities in recent months amid U.S. efforts to negotiate the end of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Despite multiple rounds of negotiations, the fate of ongoing peace talks remains uncertain amid Moscow’s refusal to budge from its maximalist demands in Ukraine.
