At least three people, including a young child, were killed and power outages were reported in several regions of Ukraine after Russia launched a "massive" drone and missile attack overnight into Tuesday (December 23) morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a post on his Telegram account via ABC News.
A total 635 drones and 38 missiles were involved in the overnight attack, with 587 drones and 34 missiles shot down or suppressed and impacts of missiles and drones reported in 21 different locations throughout the country, according to Ukraine's air force. The attack was the largest carried out by Russia since December 6 and the third-largest since it initially launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskyy claimed that the attacks were "primarily targeting our energy sector, civilian infrastructure and literally all aspects of daily life." The Ukrainian president confirmed that the three people killed included an adult in Kyiv, an adult in Khmelnytskyi and one 4-year-old in Zhytomyr.
At least 13 regions were targeted and at least 11 individuals sustained injuries during the attack. Ukraine's Energy Ministry confirmed that "emergency power cuts have been introduced in a number of regions of Ukraine" in a post shared on Telegram.
"As soon as the security situation allows, rescue workers and energy specialists will begin to repair the damage caused by the attack in order to restore power supply to the regions as quickly as possible," the post states.
Zelenskyy claimed that Monday's attack "sends an extremely clear signal about Russia's priorities as talks continue to discuss a United States-sponsored negotiation to reach a peace deal in the yearslong war.
"The attack comes just before Christmas, when people want to be with their families, at home, in safety," Zelenskyy wrote. "The attack actually comes at the height of negotiations aimed at ending this war."