Russian forces have broken ceasefire, Ukraine says
Russian forces attacked a fire station in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in an attack that left several people dead or wounded, a senior Ukrainian official said, despite Moscow’s unilateral declaration of a ceasefire the 36-hour fire.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said:
They are talking about a ceasefire. This is who we are at war with.
Agence France-Presse also reported that Russia’s defense ministry said it respected its unilateral ceasefire and accused Ukrainian forces of continuing the shelling.
Putin’s temporary truce order came after calls for a ceasefire by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill, a staunch Putin supporter.
Updated at 10.49 GMT
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Emma Graham-Harrison
An interesting piece here from our senior international affairs correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison, who is in Kyiv and has been talking to people about their blackout equipment, which is needed because of Russian attacks on power infrastructure in Ukraine
Markus Peuser was in the elevator to his 10th-floor apartment when one of Russia’s first drone strikes against Kyiv hit a power plant and the small metal box screeched to a halt.
At least it was a good time to get caught, he said wryly. “I was coming from the supermarket so I had enough food with me and a bottle of wine,” he said. When someone came to rescue him, two hours later, he had passed “a lot of chocolates”.
Attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, including its power plants, have intensified this fall, following heavy battlefield losses for the Russian military.
Drones and missiles have caused death and destruction in civilian areas across the country and left millions without electricity, water or heat for long periods.
They have also turned the mundane parts of everyday life into an obstacle course. Few things have become as difficult as getting into an elevator, with the risk of being trapped in a small enclosed space for hours if the power goes out.
Updated at 15.21 GMT
The United States has asked Italy to provide air defense systems to Ukraine during a conversation between two officials.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan asked Francesco Talo, an adviser to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, for Rome to provide the systems as soon as possible, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
Sullivan was referring to the Italian-French SAMP/T air defense system, according to undisclosed sources in Washington cited by the newspaper.
After a conversation with Meloni, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on December 27 that Italy was considering supplying Ukraine with air defense systems.
Updated at 15:22 GMT
A message from a Reuters reporter in Warsaw, Poland, as Ukrainian refugees celebrate Christmas.
Victoria, a Ukrainian refugee, celebrates Orthodox Christmas in Poland with a simple prayer: that she will return home next year. The 40-year-old is one of millions of Ukrainians who have fled the Russian invasion of their homeland and are marking the holiday with mixed emotions: relief that they are safe, but sadness at being away from their families.
“The important thing is that it’s still a family holiday … We look forward to celebrating next Christmas with our family at home,” Victoria said.
At a Christmas Eve candlelight Mass under the domes of Warsaw’s St. Mary Magdalene Cathedral, priest Doroteusz Sawicki welcomes the newcomers who have come to celebrate the birth of Christ.
“Two or three years ago we could wonder if someone would knock on our door, now we know someone is already there,” he told Reuters. “Many of our brothers who have been in Poland because of the war cannot return to their land. They will celebrate with us.”
Many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, but the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine has angered many Ukrainian Orthodox believers and fractured the world Orthodox church.
Updated at 14:30 GMT
More details have emerged about the Russian bombing of Bakhmut in the Donbass on Friday. The two killed were a 66-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman, according to the Ukrainian military.
They said 13 others were injured as a result of the attack during Russia’s apparent 36-hour ceasefire.
A 66-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman were killed and 13 other residents injured as a result of Russia’s “Christmas bombings” in Bakhmut. #russiaisaterroriststate
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) January 7, 2023 Orthodox Christians take part in a Christmas service at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Priests attend the Christmas service celebrated by Metropolitan Epiphany, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, at the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv on Saturday. Photo: Oleg Petrasyuk/EPA
Updated at 13.27 GMT
Worshipers attend the Christmas Divine Service celebrated by Metropolitan Epiphany, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, at the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday. Photo: Oleg Petrasyuk/EPA Priests attend the Christmas service celebrated by Metropolitan Epiphany, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, at the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv on Saturday. Photo: Oleg Petrasyuk/EPA
Updated at 12.49 GMT
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Christmas service in the Kremlin on his own. Photo: SPUTNIK/Reuters
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has praised the US for including armored tank-killing vehicles in its latest multibillion-dollar military aid package, saying they are “exactly what is needed” for troops locked in combat against Russian forces.
The latest US military assistance announced by the White House on Friday was the largest to date in Kyiv. For the first time, it included Bradley armored vehicles, known as tank killers because of the anti-tank missiles they fire.
In his late-night televised address on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called it “a very powerful package.”
“For the first time, we will get Bradley armored vehicles – this is exactly what is needed. New weapons and cartridges, including high-precision ones, new rockets, new drones. It is timely and strong,” he said.
Updated at 11.51 GMT
Ukraine has updated the number of Russian troops it believes it has killed to 110,740.
The Armed Forces General Staff said in its morning update on Saturday that 490 more soldiers were killed on Friday.
The figures have not been independently verified by the Guardian, and Russian figures differ, although the Kremlin figures are believed to be far below the actual number of troops killed.
Two more tanks were destroyed, along with three artillery systems.
Updated at 11.18 GMT
Metropolitan Epiphany I, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, leads a Christmas service for the first time at the Holy Dormition Cathedral on the grounds of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery. Photo: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters People in traditional Ukrainian dress arrive at the Holy Dormition Cathedral on the grounds of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery for a Christmas service on Saturday. Photo: Gleb Garanich/Reuters Metropolitan Epiphany I, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, enters a Christmas service at the Holy Dormition Cathedral on the grounds of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery in Kyiv. Photo: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Russian troops have continued to “terrorize” civilians across Ukraine, despite the Kremlin’s alleged 36-hour Orthodox Christmas ceasefire, according to Ukrainian governors.
Over the past 24 hours, attacks have been reported in at least seven regions of eastern and southern Ukraine, killing at least three people and wounding 14, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Russian troops bombed the southern Kherson Oblast 39 times on Friday. Residential buildings and a fire department building were attacked in the liberated city of Kherson, Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said on Telegram on Saturday.
One first responder was killed in Kherson and seven civilians were injured on Friday in liberated parts of Kherson region, he added.
In eastern Donetsk Oblast, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said Friday that two civilians were killed in Bakhmut and the nearby town of Krasna Hora. Seven others were injured, he added.
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian troops were “terrorizing” civilians in the northeastern region. No casualties were reported, but residential and commercial buildings continued to come under fire during the supposed ceasefire period.
Updated at 10.34 GMT
Ukrainians celebrate the first Orthodox Christmas since the invasion
People pray during an Orthodox Christmas service at St Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday. Photograph: Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
Services have begun in Ukraine to mark the first Orthodox Christmas since the Russian invasion of the country last year.
Metropolitan Epiphanius led a Christmas service at the Cathedral of the Holy Dormition in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in the Ukrainian capital.
Other services will be held throughout Ukraine. The date is later than the December 25 date observed by others, as it was moved when Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582.
Under the previous Julian calendar it took place later, and many Orthodox Christians still observe the original date of January before the 16th century reforms.
Vladimir Putin had proposed a 36-hour ceasefire to observe the festival, but this was rejected by Ukraine as a cynical ploy. Russian attacks have continued in this window, including in Kherson on Saturday morning (see 7:01 am).
Patriarch Filaret leads a Christmas Eve service at St Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv on…