Russia Launches Major Deadly Missile and Drone Attack on Ukraine
On 23 December 2025, Russia conducted a major overnight missile and drone attack on Ukraine, firing about 635 drones and 38 missiles. Ukrainian air defences reported shooting down 587 drones and 34 missiles. The strikes resulted in at least three deaths, including a four-year-old child in Zhytomyr, a woman in the Kyiv region, and a civilian in the Khmelnytskyi region.
The attacks struck homes and the power grid across 13 regions, causing widespread outages amid bitter cold weather. Emergency outages were in place nationwide, with power restoration planned once it was safe.
This marks the ninth large-scale strike on Ukraine's energy system in 2025. DTEK reported its thermal power plants were targeted; such attacks have hit its facilities over 220 times since February 2022, resulting in four worker fatalities and 59 injuries.
In response to the airstrikes near Ukraine's western border with Poland, NATO and Polish forces scrambled fighter jets and put air-defence and radar reconnaissance systems on heightened readiness.
In the Odesa region, energy, port, transport, industrial, and residential infrastructure suffered damage. A merchant ship and more than 120 homes were also affected.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the barrage signals Russian President Vladimir Putin's intent to continue the invasion and indicated that peace negotiations are not sincerely engaged. US envoy Steve Witkoff described recent talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives as productive and constructive.
