Ukraine faces widespread Russian attack amid peace talks

Olesia Safronova, Bloomberg News on Dec 23, 2025

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Russian forces launched a missile and drone attack across Ukraine, killing civilians and hitting energy targets as negotiators pressed ahead with talks to end the nearly four-year war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes on several Ukrainian regions, with some 650 drones and more than 30 missiles, took place “in the midst of negotiations,” as Kyiv’s team returned home from talks with U.S. officials in Florida.

“This Russian strike sends an extremely clear signal about Russia’s priorities,” Zelenskyy said on Tuesday on X. He slammed the attack, taking place “ahead of Christmas, when people simply want to be with their families, at home, and safe.”

On the diplomatic front, U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration is placing Kyiv under mounting pressure to agree to a peace deal with Russia, said the effort was moving ahead. Talks are “going along,” the U.S. leader told reporters in Florida in response to a question on whether three-way discussions between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow may be the next step.

Zelenskyy has also expressed optimism over a result. Speaking with reporters late Monday, the Ukrainian leader said a just peace, an end to the conflict and “at least” a Ukrainian diplomatic victory are among Kyiv’s goals. The negotiating team is returning after having done everything possible in the initial rounds, he said.

In a video address, Zelenskyy said he expected to receive a “full briefing” on the drafts early Tuesday.

At least three civilians, including a child, were killed and many injured as explosions were registered in the early hours across central, southern and western regions of the war-battered country, authorities said. The Energy Ministry and grid operator Ukrenergo imposed emergency power cuts.

Energy and port infrastructure were hit in the Odesa region on the Black Sea, authorities said. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba cited damage on warehouses, energy infrastructure and a civilian vessel transporting soybeans under the Lebanese flag, according to a post on Telegram. No casualties were reported as operations were being restored, he said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, who called it a “deliberate and cynical Russian attack” on the eve of the Christmas holiday, said that energy facilities in western Ukraine were hit the hardest.

Residential buildings as well as houses were damaged in many areas, according to local authorities. Neighboring Poland scrambled jets as per procedure amid the threat, according to the military.

Maxim Timchenko, the chief executive officer of Ukraine’s biggest private energy company, DTEK, said Ukraine is confronting its most difficult winter since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, with sustained bombardment on the country’s energy system taking place as temperatures sink below zero.

“Today what we need is, number one, air defense; number two, equipment; and number three, funding,” Timchenko Bloomberg Television on Tuesday.