https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-war-zelensky-putin-attack-update-11258377
Russia-Ukraine War: Zelensky Issues Fresh Putin Demand After Massive Attack
Published
Dec 23, 2025 at 03:45 AM EST
updated
Dec 23, 2025 at 03:59 AM EST
Shane Croucher
By Shane Croucher
Breaking News Editor
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the world it must apply more pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war after he said Moscow's forces had launched a "massive" overnight attack into Tuesday with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, causing at least three deaths, including a little girl.
"This Russian strike sends an extremely clear signal about Russia’s priorities. A strike ahead of Christmas, when people want simply to be with their families, at home, in safety," Zelensky said in a post on Telegram, originally in Ukrainian.
"A strike carried out virtually in the midst of negotiations aimed at ending this war. Putin cannot accept the need to stop killing. And this means the world is not applying enough pressure on Russia. Action is needed now. Russia must be forced toward peace and guaranteed security."
A woman died in the Kyiv region and another person in Khmelnytskyi. A four-year-old girl died in Zhytomyr when a residential building was struck by a drone.
Zelensky said the strike hit energy and civilian infrastructure. He had earlier proposed a Christmas truce on energy strikes to shield civilians on either side from blackouts and unheated homes during the bitter winter months, which Russia rejected.
The Kremlin has repeatedly ruled out temporary ceasefires, saying Ukraine would use a pause to regroup and rearm while it is losing on the battlefield. Instead, Russia says it wants a peace agreement that ends the fighting to be comprehensive and permanent.
During the latest Russian attack on Ukraine, neighboring NATO ally Poland scrambled fighter jets. Poland also put ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems on "the highest state of readiness" to protect NATO territory, Warsaw's military said. Earlier in the year, Poland shot down what it said were Russian drones violating its airspace.