United States President Joe Biden has labelled as “outrageous” a Russian Christmas Day attack on Ukraine’s power grid, promising a “surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine”.

Moscow launched more than 170 missiles and drones on Ukraine on Wednesday, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The strikes, which killed an energy worker, hit a thermal power plant and prompted Ukrainians to take shelter in metro stations on Christmas morning.

“The United States will continue to work tirelessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in its defence against Russian forces,” the outgoing president said in a statement.

“The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardise the safety of its grid,” Biden added.

The strikes on Ukrainian fuel and energy sources included 78 air, ground, and sea-launched missiles as well as 106 Shaheds and other types of drones, Ukraine’s air force said. It claimed to have intercepted 59 missiles and 54 drones, with 52 more drones being jammed.

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“Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhumane?” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X. “The target is our energy infrastructure.”

This was the 13th large-scale strike on Ukraine’s energy system this year, the latest in Russia’s campaign targeting the power grid during winter.

Ukrainian plots foiled

Meanwhile, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Thursday that it had thwarted a plan by Ukrainian intelligence to kill senior Russian officers and their families in Moscow, according to the state-run TASS news agency.

Earlier this month, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service in Moscow when a bomb attached to an electric scooter went off.

Earlier, Russia said five people had died in Ukrainian attacks and from a falling drone in the border region of Kursk and North Ossetia in the Caucasus on Wednesday.

Ukrainians in traditional clothes take part in a Christmas procession at the Sofiivska Square in Kyiv, December 25, 2024 [Anatolii Stepanov/AFP]

Celebrating Christmas amid attacks

Ukraine officially celebrated Christmas on December 25 for the second time, after the government last year changed the date from January 7, when most Orthodox believers celebrate, as a snub to Russia.

Nearly 200 people paraded through the centre of Kyiv, singing Christmas carols.

The Christmas Day attack also targeted Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, located near the Russian border. At least seven strikes sparked fires across the city, regional head Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. At least three people were injured, local authorities said.

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Attacks continued overnight, with the Ukrainian military announcing on Thursday it shot down 20 drones out of 31 launched by Russia.

Outnumbered Ukrainian forces are now on the back foot across the front line in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions further south, ceding ground to better-equipped Russian troops.

Both sides are racing to secure an advantage in advance of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised a swift end to the conflict.

This has led to concerns that Washington might push Kyiv into accepting a settlement favourable to Moscow.