Russian bombardment leaves at least 10 dead and 55 injured in Kherson, Ukraine on Christmas Eve – National

Russian shells hit the southern Ukrainian town of Kherson on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 55 in the town that troops from Moscow were forced to abandon last month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just back from his quick trip to Washington, posted photos of the wreckage on his social media accounts. He noted that the destruction came as Ukrainians began Christmas celebrations, which for many Orthodox Christians will culminate in the traditional January 7 celebration.

« This is not sensitive content, this is Kherson’s real life, » Zelenskyy tweeted. The images showed cars on fire, bodies in the street and building windows blown out.

Yaroslav Yanushevych, the governor of Kherson region, said in televised remarks that the number of people killed in the latest shelling of the city has risen from seven to 10.

He added that 55 people had been injured, 18 of them in serious condition. Yanushevych said dozens of other people, including a 6-year-old girl, were injured by Russian shelling the day before.

Saturday marks 10 months since the start of the Russian invasion.

Ukraine has faced an avalanche of Russian artillery, missile, bombing and drone attacks since early October, much of it targeting energy infrastructure in a bid to cut power and electricity services. heating as the freezing winter progresses. Shelling has been particularly heavy in Kherson since Russian forces withdrew and the Ukrainian army recaptured the city in November.

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Earlier Saturday, Donetsk Regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said two people had been killed and five injured in shelling over the past day. The deaths took place in Kurakhove, a town of about 20,000 people 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.

About 60 shells hit three communities overnight in the Nikopol region, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.

Stepne, a settlement on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, was also hit by shelling, but there were no details of casualties, governor Oleksander Starukh said.

Zelenskyy returned to Kyiv after his trip to Washington, during which he secured another $1.8 billion military aid package.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the war would end at the negotiating table once the « special military operation » had achieved Russia’s goals. He said no reported Ukrainian peace plan can succeed without taking into account « today’s realities that cannot be ignored » – a reference to Moscow’s demand that Ukraine recognize Russia’s sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, as well as other territorial gains.

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