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Russia launched an attack on Ukraine’s energy system on Christmas Day, leaving more than half a million consumers without heat, water and electricity.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack, the 13th large-scale attack on the country’s power grid in 2024, was “premeditated” and not accidental. “What could be more inhumane?” he wrote on X.

About 50 of the 70 missiles fired in the attack were intercepted, along with a “significant” portion of the more than 100 attack drones used, Zelensky added.

This year, Ukrainians celebrated Christmas Day on December 25 for the second time, after switching to the Western Gregorian calendar last year. The decision to stop celebrating Christmas on January 7 according to the Orthodox calendar was made by Kiev to break with Russian influence.

Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, said on Ukrainian television that the attack had left more than half a million consumers without heat, water and electricity.

Temperatures are around freezing point throughout Ukraine.

Heat supplies were also interrupted in some areas of the Ivano-Frankivsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine in the west and south of the country.

Ukrainian energy grid operator Ukrenergo urged consumers to limit consumption by not turning on multiple devices at the same time, adding that the system was still recovering from the previous Russian attack on December 13.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said its power plants were damaged and one of its long-time employees was killed.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on X that the attack reflected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reaction to “those who spoke of an illusionary ‘Christmas break’.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said last week that Zelensky had rejected his proposal for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange on Orthodox Christmas, January 7.

Ukraine denied such a proposal was ever on the table and called on Hungary to “refrain from manipulation” over the war. On Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi called it a “PR, a move” by Orbán.