Russia Ukraine war live: Moscow shelling kills four in Kherson as Kyiv marks first Christmas on December 25

Ukraine is prepared to officially celebrate Christmas for the first time on December 25, having previously marked the date on January 7.
The Russian Orthodox Church observes the birth of Jesus on January 7.

Some Orthodox Ukrainians observed Christmas on December 25 last year in response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The cathedral in the Monastery of the Caves, a Unesco World Heritage Site in Kyiv, held its Christmas celebration on January 7 of this year, but the service was held in the Ukrainian language for the first time in the 31 years of Ukraine‘s independence from the Soviet Union.

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed legislation in July moving the public Christmas Day holiday to December 25.

However, one of Ukraine‘s two competing Orthodox church organisations is sticking with the January date dictated by the Julian calendar.

To mark Christmas Eve on December 24, Mr Zelensky addressed the nation in a video filmed before the floodlit St Sophia Cathedral in central Kyiv.

He reassured Ukrainians fighting against Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country that “step by step, day by day, the darkness is losing”.

“Today, this is our common goal, our common dream. And this is precisely what our common prayer is for today. For our freedom. For our victory. For our Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said.

Ex-Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a bomb plot orchestrated by Vladimir Putin’s oldest ally, a Russian intelligence officer has claimed.

Mr Prigozhin, who was killed when his plane crashed over Russia on 23 August this year, launched a mutiny against the Russian ministry of defence in June following a long-running feud with officials over the direction of the war in Ukraine.

At the time, the Kremlin denied any involvement with his death and characterised western intelligence assessments of Putin’s culpability as an “absolute lie”.

There is a growing sense of alarm among Ukraine’s frontline forces at dwindling supplies of arms and ammunition and signs that the commitment of international partners is faltering, according to multiple senior Ukrainian military officials, Arpan Rai reports.

Ukraine’s military fears Vladimir Putin’s forces could break through its defensive lines and secure victory for Russia within days if the US does not commit to more aid, with intense fighting still taking place and hourly assaults targeting the key industrial town of Avdiivka, despite the onset of the country’s bitter winter.

“It is a very difficult situation, very difficult, but the guys from the defence forces are holding their ground,” says Vitaliy Barabash, the head of Avdiivka’s military administration, in an interview with The Independent.

Russian president Vladimir Putin will continue his war in Ukraine until he achieves “final victory” the EU security chief has warned.

“He will not give up the war, especially not before the American election, which may present him with a much more favorable scenario,” Josep Borrell told The Guardian.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press conference last week that the result of the 2024 US presidential election could “very strongly” influence the course of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

There will be severe consequences if Russian president Vladimir Putin wins the war in Ukraine, the UK’s defence minister has warned.

“If we allow Putin to win this war by dragging it out, and he somehow wins it by exhausting everybody else, then we will suffer the consequences. And the consequences would be incredibly severe for Europe, for Britain, for the world,” Grant Shapps told The Times.

The United Kingdom spent £2.3bn on defence assistance to Ukraine last year and has committed the same amount in 2023.

Russian air defence systems downed four Ukrainian military aircraft over eastern Ukraine in the last day, the Kremlin has claimed.

The defence ministry said it had shot down three Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Su-24 tactical bomber in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions of southeastern Ukraine.

It comes after president Zelensky said his country’s armed forces shot down three Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft on the southern front.

An eight-year-old boy is among three children to have been rescued from occupied territories by the Ukrainian humanitarian NGO Save Ukraine, reports suggest.

“Three more children from the temporarily occupied territories were returned to the Save Ukraine team. Thus, we completed 14 rescue missions saving 14 children, seven of whom were children deprived of parental care,” the organisation’s head Mykola Kuleba said.

“For today, the Save Ukraine team has returned to Ukraine already 226 children who have been under the influence of Russian authorities since 24 February 2022.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has branded Russian troops “terrorists” following an attack on Kherson that left four dead and nine injured.

“The elimination of the consequences of Russian strikes on Kherson lasted all night. Terrorists deliberately target civilian infrastructure and ordinary streets,” Mr Zelensky said on X.

“I am grateful to everyone who is doing everything they can to make the Russian terrorists feel our Ukrainian response, a completely fair response to their attacks,” he added.

It comes after a child was killed along with three other civilians in strikes on Kherson Oblast over the last day, the region’s governor said.

Vladimir Putin may attack Europe in the winter of 2024 if the United States found itself “without a leader” following its presidential election, a European intelligence source claimed.

The source, cited by German newspaper Bild, said a potential Russian strike on Europe could occur within the transitionary period, dependent on President Joe Biden not securing re-election in the 2024 US presidential election.

Throughout his campaign for the presidency, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised the level of aid President Joe Biden’s administration provides to Kyiv.

The Russian death toll has reached just over 350,000 since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has claimed.

According to their estimates, Russia has also lost 5,858 tanks, 10,888 armored fighting vehicles and 8,314 artillery systems since 24 February 2022.

The figures, provided by Ukraine’s armed forces, have not been independently verified.