Live: Ukraine’s Zelensky delivers defiant Christmas message after deadly Russian strike

Issued on: 25/12/2022 – 07:35Modified: 25/12/2022 – 07:41

6:50am: Emergency services workers killed while demining Ukraine’s Kherson

Three Ukrainian emergency services workers were killed on Saturday when a mine exploded while they were demining parts of the Kherson region, said the emergency service of another region, in which they served.

“All three selflessly served in the emergency and rescue squad of the Special Purpose Unit of the State Department of Ukraine in Zhytomyr region and performed the task of demining territories liberated from the enemy in the Kherson region,” the Zhytomyr emergency service said on its Facebook page.

The Zhytomyr region is west of Kyiv, in northern Ukraine.

Explosive experts have been at work in Kherson region since Ukrainian forces retook the regional capital, also named Kherson, and a number of settlements in mid-November.

11:50pm: Ukraine’s Zelensky delivers defiant Christmas message

Ukrainians will create their own Christmas miracle by showing they remain unbowed despite Russian attacks that have plunged millions into darkness, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a defiant message.

Speaking 10 months to the day since Russian launched a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions more, Zelensky said that while freedom came at a high price, slavery would cost even more.

“We endured at the beginning of the war – we withstood attacks, threats, nuclear blackmail, terror, missile strikes. We will endure this winter because we know what we are fighting for,” he said.

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Zelensky made his remarks in a video address to Ukrainians who celebrate Christmas in December. Most Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians and mark the occasion in early January.

“Even in complete darkness, we will find each other to hug each other tightly. And if there is no heat, we will embrace each other for a long time to warm one another,” he said.

“We will smile and be happy, as always. There is one difference – we will not wait for a miracle, since we are creating it ourselves.”

7:35pm: Death toll rises from shelling of Kherson

Russian shells pummeled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55 in the city that Moscow’s troops were forced to abandon last month.

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

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“This is not sensitive content – it’s the real life of Kherson,” Zelensky tweeted. The images showed cars on fire, bodies on the street and building windows blown out.

Yaroslav Yanushevych, the governor of the 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 were wounded, 18 of them in grave condition, including a 6-year-old child.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)