Russian shelling in southern Ukraine's Kherson region resulted in four fatalities on Sunday, including an 87-year-old man and his 81-year-old wife who died following a strike on their apartment building.
The attack also injured nine others, including a 15-year-old, causing fires in homes and at a private medical facility, and igniting a local gas pipeline, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the regional military administration.
"There are no holidays for the enemy,” wrote Andrii Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president's office, on social media in response to the Kherson attack. “They do not exist for us as long as the enemy kills our people and remains on our land.”
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The shelling extended to the center of the Kherson region's capital city. The assault occurred as Ukraine prepared to officially celebrate Christmas on December 25 for the first time, having previously observed the date on Jan. 7.
Some Orthodox Ukrainians shifted to celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 last year in response to Russia's February 2022 invasion, while the Russian Orthodox Church observes the birth of Jesus on Jan. 7.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed legislation in July moving the public Christmas Day holiday to Dec. 25, although one of Ukraine's Orthodox church organizations continues to follow the January date dictated by the Julian calendar.
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Zelenskyy addressed the nation in a video on Christmas Eve, reassuring Ukrainians fighting against Russia's invasion that “step by step, day by day, the darkness is losing.”
Kherson was not the sole region under attack; 15 drone strikes were launched by Russian forces overnight, with 14 Iranian-made Shahed drones destroyed over various Ukrainian regions.
In northern Ukraine's Kharkiv region, 20 towns and villages were shelled, resulting in two injuries, according to Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. In Russia, a man was injured in the Bryansk region near the Ukrainian border due to shelling, as reported by the region's governor, Alexander Bogomaz.
