The last week of 2025 in Ukraine began with a massive Russian attack on critical infrastructure. According to the Ministry of Energy, this was the ninth massive attack on Ukraine’s power system since the beginning of 2025. A significant share of the strikes hit western Ukraine. The enemy army turned Christmas Eve and Christmas into a trial for people in Chernihiv. The week was marked by attacks on Zhytomyr region and Cherkasy region, where the killed and wounded included children. Russians continued deliberately destroying Odesa region’s infrastructure. The situation with shelling in frontline areas remains consistently difficult. In Donetsk region, a Kharkiv volunteer was killed by a Russian drone strike. On the night before the weekend, Russians carried out a massive strike on Kyiv and the region, continuing drone terror throughout the day.
Chronicle of attacks from December 22 to December 28
December 22 — the enemy attacked energy and transport infrastructure in Zhytomyr region; four Ukrzaliznytsia employees were injured. The attack caused an accident on the railway tracks. Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions also came under Russian shelling, with fires everywhere and destruction of residential and social infrastructure.
December 23 — the enemy delivered a massive strike on critical infrastructure in 13 regions of Ukraine.
During the night of December 24, the Russian army carried out three airstrikes on Zaporizhzhia; a residential building was damaged, four civilians were injured, and garages burned over an area of 50 sq m. The blast wave damaged a fire station building, several administrative buildings, an educational institution, residential houses, and cars. In Kherson, critical infrastructure was attacked, causing power outages and disruptions to water supply. Over the day in Kherson region, one person was killed and one was injured. Russians shelled Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, and Cherkasy regions. In Sumy region, civilian cars came under attack; five people were injured and three were hospitalized. In Cherkasy district, Ukrainian air defense neutralized a Russian missile; one person was injured, and the blast wave damaged an educational institution, a garage cooperative, and a local cemetery.
December 25 — during the day, Russians struck a market in Kherson; a man was killed and market stalls caught fire. Russians also attacked residential buildings in central Kherson; two people were injured. The Russian army attacked a vehicle of the public organization “Kramatorsk Volunteers Association” in Donetsk region. The attack killed volunteer and founder of the “Unbreakable” foundation Viacheslav Ilchenko; two people were injured, reported the online outlet “Vilne Radio”.
December 26 — Russians carried out a repeated attack on residential neighborhoods in central Kherson while emergency services were dealing with the aftermath of the previous shelling. The enemy launched a missile strike on the city of Uman in Cherkasy region. About fifty houses were damaged; seven of them were destroyed completely. Four adults and two children were injured. In Volyn, Russian strikes caused fires.
December 27 — Russians delivered a massive strike on the capital. The attacks continued throughout the day. In Sumy region, while extinguishing a large-scale fire caused by shelling, rescuers came under a repeated enemy strike. Firefighters managed to move to a safe place. In Dnipropetrovsk region, two people were injured by an FPV drone hit; a transport enterprise, high-rise buildings, and private houses were damaged.
December 28 — the enemy army struck Kherson with MLRS; the target was critical infrastructure and residential buildings. Fires broke out, and one person was injured. Naftogaz reported that Russians struck the Kherson CHP plant; the station sustained significant destruction, and a female employee was injured and hospitalized. Overall, four people were injured in the Kherson community.
In Donetsk region over the week, two civilians were killed and 14 were injured.
In Chernihiv region, during Christmas week, Russians staged drone terror: they struck critical infrastructure, businesses, and residential buildings. Key energy facilities were damaged in Chernihiv district, the border area, and the south of the region. Other targets included a vehicle fleet, a forestry enterprise, and a hangar. Several UAV hits on residential buildings in the regional center were recorded. On December 23, Russians hit the technical floor of a nine-storey building, followed by a fire. On the night of December 24, a hit on a kindergarten was recorded. On Christmas Eve, an enemy drone struck the side wall of a high-rise building. On Christmas, in broad daylight, a Russian drone struck a five-storey residential building, completely destroying two apartments from the second to the fourth floor. After the fire was extinguished, debris removal continued until late at night. Over the week in Chernihiv region, three people were killed and 12 were injured, including three children. By the end of the week, more than 20,000 consumers in the region were left without power.
The ninth attack on the energy system
On the night of December 23, the Russian army carried out a massive attack on Ukraine, using 635 UAVs of various types and 38 missiles. Russia covered at least 13 regions with fire; the western regions suffered the most. The enemy’s target again was critical infrastructure. By morning, Rivne, Ternopil, and Khmelnytskyi regions were almost completely without electricity. Power outages were also recorded in Vinnytsia, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions. DTEK reported damage to thermal power plant equipment. Since October 2025, Russians have attacked the company’s TPPs seven times.
Due to Russian strikes, civilians were killed in Kyiv region and Khmelnytskyi region. In Zhytomyr region, a four-year-old child was killed when a Russian drone hit a residential building; two children and one adult were hospitalized. A private house burned, and a fire also broke out on the territory of one of the enterprises.
In Kyiv region, Vyshhorod and Obukhiv districts were hit. In Vyshhorod district, a woman was killed, and three people sustained shrapnel wounds, including a child. A private house burned.
In Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district, UAV debris fell near a residential building, damaging several five-storey buildings. Five people were injured, including a child. On December 25, the woman who was hospitalized in serious condition died in hospital.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to Russia’s shelling of Ukraine: “A strike before Christmas, when people want to simply be with their loved ones, at home, safe. A strike practically in the midst of negotiations being held to end this war. Putin still cannot come to terms with the fact that he must stop killing.”
A week of intense shelling and a polluted sea coastline in Odesa region
Over the week from December 22 to December 28, Russians struck the region almost every day. Targets included energy, port, and transport infrastructure. Over the week, the enemy hit several civilian vessels. Enterprises, warehouses with fertilizer and agricultural machinery, administrative buildings, a polyclinic building in Izmail, and residential infrastructure were also damaged. One person was killed and three were injured — one hospitalized in moderate condition. Firefighters had to work under constant air-raid alerts. Over the weekend, the residential sector in the Prymorskyi district of the city was affected by enemy fire. A strike drone hit the roof of a two-storey building, which caught fire. Four people were evacuated from the damaged building. A lyceum building was also damaged.
Due to Russian shelling of the port “Pivdennyi” and damage to tanks with sunflower oil, vegetable oil and combustion products entered the Black Sea. Oily slicks on the water surface were recorded in Odesa district — specifically near the “Dolphin” and “Lanzheron” beaches. There, stains resembling oil were found, as well as dead birds. Constant enemy attacks hindered efforts to contain the spill. The waters of the port “Pivdennyi” were closed until the consequences of the vegetable oil spill are fully eliminated, reported the Odesa Regional State Administration.
Bombs on Kharkiv
On the evening of December 26, the Russian army carried out three airstrikes on Kharkiv and its suburbs. One KAB fell on one of the central roads of the city near residential buildings and an educational institution. Two people were killed; three sustained blast injuries, including an infant; five others had an acute stress reaction. The KAB destroyed the roadway and a car. Residential buildings near the strike site were damaged. The other two KABs fell outside the city limits. Overall, four people were killed in Kharkiv region over the day.
During the week, Russians struck critical infrastructure in the region. On December 24 during the day, the enemy hit a CHP plant in a Kharkiv suburb with missiles. One person was killed and 13 were injured. Voltage dropped in the city power grid, and emergency outages were introduced. On Christmas, Russians struck Kharkiv and the region. One person was killed and 17 were injured. Four fire outbreaks were extinguished. There was extensive damage to residential infrastructure. A service station, a civilian enterprise, warehouses, and vehicles were also damaged.
More than 10 hours of attacks on the capital
On the night of December 27, Russia carried out a massive attack on critical infrastructure, using 40 missiles and 519 UAVs of various types. The main direction of the strike was the capital and the region. Thirty locations were recorded where 10 missiles and 25 strike drones hit; at 16 more locations, debris fell. However, attacks on the capital region continued throughout the day.
In Kyiv, more than 10 residential buildings were damaged across seven districts. One person was killed, and 32 people were injured, including two children. Rescuers evacuated 68 people from a geriatric care home, where a fire broke out as a result of Russian shelling.
In the Darnytskyi district, there were several sites of destruction: a 24-storey residential building after a hostile drone hit, and a fire in the private sector, including a two-storey house that burned.
In the Dniprovskyi district, there were also several locations: damage to an 18-storey building at the level of the fourth floor followed by a fire, and a fire on the first two floors of a 25-storey residential building. Search-and-rescue operations continued there, and there was information that a person might be under the rubble.
In the Desnianskyi district, the first floor of a nine-storey building was damaged.
In Obolonskyi district, a three-storey private house caught fire due to drone attacks.
In Shevchenkivskyi district, an administrative building and a garage cooperative were damaged; a fire broke out on the tenth floor of a residential building, and cars burned.
In Holosiivskyi district, cars at a service station burned due to a drone crash.
In Solomianskyi district, the enemy hit the dormitory of the state university “Kyiv Aviation Institute” at the level of the ninth floor, reported “UP. Zhyttia”. The building of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine was also damaged.
Viacheslav Ratynskyi, one of the documentarians who recorded the aftermath of the enemy attack on the capital, shared his thoughts:
Despite war threats, problems, and fears, Ukrainian families put up Christmas trees and gather with family and friends in their homes without electricity to celebrate Christmas. Meanwhile, the Russian army destroys their houses, apartments, and the remnants of comfort with aerial bombs, ballistic missiles, and kamikaze drones.
By evening, emergency and rescue operations continued in the Dniprovskyi, Darnytskyi, and Shevchenkivskyi districts of the capital. More than 400 rescuers and 90 units of specialized equipment worked at the sites of Russian strikes.
By Sunday morning, DTEK reported that electricity had been restored in Kyiv for 748,000 families and critical infrastructure had been re-energized. However, on Kyiv’s left bank of the Dnipro River, the situation still remains difficult.
Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko thanked air defense forces, rescuers, medics, and everyone who comes to help: “Once again, hundreds of Shaheds and dozens of missiles flew at us to carry out their cynical terrorist intent. And I cannot help but note the titanic efforts of our air defense warriors, who managed to prevent the worst consequences of this attack. Thank you from me and from Kyiv residents for preventing a catastrophe. I also thank everyone who is today at the strike sites: rescuers, medics, municipal workers, police, volunteers. You are the support of our city.”
Russia’s attack damaged industrial facilities as well as critical and residential infrastructure in six districts of Kyiv region. Service stations, more than 20 homes, two high-rise buildings, and a kindergarten were also damaged. In the region, 14 people were injured; eight were hospitalized. A woman was killed in Bila Tserkva district. 320,000 consumers on the left bank of the region were left without power — specifically in Boryspil, Brovary, and Vyshhorod districts.
By Sunday morning in Kyiv region, more than 19,000 consumers were still without electricity, but power was restored to homes of 347,000 families.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that over this week Russia launched more than 2,100 strike drones, about 800 guided aerial bombs, and 94 missiles at Ukraine.
Worked on the material:
Topic researcher, text author: Yana Yevmenova
Photo editor: Olga Kovalova
Literary editor: Yuliia Futei
