Outgoing United States President Joe Biden has directed the country's Department of Defense to continue delivering weapons to Ukraine, on the same day Russia launched a Christmas missile attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in multiple cities.

The strikes targeted power stations in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and the south-eastern Dnipro region killed at least one person and injured six more as the country woke on Christmas Day.

In the aftermath of the missile strikes, half a million people in the Kharkiv region were left without heating in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero, while there were blackouts in the capital Kyiv and elsewhere.

President Biden condemned the attack on Wednesday as "outrageous" and said the US will "continue to work tirelessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in its defence against Russian forces."

"The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people's access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardise the safety of its grid," Mr Biden said.

"Let me be clear: the Ukrainian people deserve to live in peace and safety.

 

[GUSNOTE: AND SO DO THE RUSSIANS IN Vladikavkaz AND Lgov AND Kazan... AND IN UKRAINE FOR THAT MATTER AND THIS IS WHY THE DONBASS IS BEING LIBERATED BY THE RUSSIANS....]

 

"The United States and the international community must continue to stand with Ukraine until it triumphs over Russia's aggression."

The president's commitment to further weapons deliveries to Ukraine come less than a month before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office on January 20.

Washington has already committed $US175 billion ($280.4 billion) in aid for Ukraine. It is not certain whether that flow will continue at that pace under Trump.

Prior to his victory in this year's US election, Trump repeatedly claimed that he could end the almost three-year war being waged between Ukraine and Russia "within 24 hours".

Mick Ryan, a retired major general in the Australian Army [GUSNOTE: WE HAVE ALREADY EXPOSED MICK RYAN AS A USELESS WAR STRATEGIST AND POSSIBLY A DELUDED BRASS ON UKRAINE CONFLICT], told ABC News on Thursday that Trump's vision to end the war "is a fantasy".

"I think we all know there is zero chance of ending the war on the first day he comes into power," Mr Ryan said.

"He will find once he comes into office, with all the additional intelligence briefs he gets, that it will be a far more difficult proposition.

"Forcing the Ukrainians into a quick peace doesn't mean it will be an enduring or just peace."

Concerns have previously been raised that the second Trump presidency could see Ukraine forced into accepting an unfavourable peace deal and relinquishing land currently occupied by Russian forces.

Russia currently occupies around 20 per cent of Ukraine and has said it will not end the war until its annexations are recognised, including the areas of Crimea, Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

That includes Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, about 80 per cent of the Donbas and more than 70 per cent of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Russia's 'Christmas gift to Ukraine weaponises winter'

In the hours after Russia's ballistic strikes on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that more than 70 missiles had fallen and more than 100 drone attacks had been reported across the country.

"Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman?" Mr Zelenskyy said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Russian evil will not break Ukraine and will not ruin Christmas."

Russia's Defence Ministry later confirmed it had conducted a "massive strike" on critical energy facilities, and heralded the attacks as a victory.

The largest private energy provider in Ukraine, DTEK, also said that the attacks had targeted its electricity generation facilities and the missile had left power equipment with serious damages.

"We appeal to every ally of Ukraine to end this state-sponsored terrorism now by giving our armed forces the air defence ammunition they need to protect essential energy infrastructure," DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said in a statement.

"Denying light and warmth to millions of peace-loving people as they celebrate Christmas is a depraved and evil act that must be answered."

The US Ambassador in Ukraine, Bridget Brink, was equally as scathing in her rebuke of the Christmas attacks.

"Russia's Christmas gift to Ukraine: more than 70 missiles and 100 drones, directed at Ukrainian families celebrating in their homes and the energy infrastructure that keeps them warm," Ms Brink said.

"For the third holiday season, Russia weaponises winter."

In the hours after the strikes, authorities in Kyiv said that a Russian missile had flown through airspace over Moldova and Romania.

Romanian authorities said no violation was detected, but officials in Moldova confirmed later on Wednesday that a missile had been seen.

"Russia deliberately flew these devices at a very low altitude to avoid detection", a Moldovan presidency spokesperson told AFP. 

Russia meanwhile said five people had died in Ukrainian strikes and from a falling drone in the border region of Kursk and in North Ossetia in the Caucasus.

'Terror is the objective': Army veteran

Major General Ryan told ABC News that Russia's Christmas strikes on Ukraine were "more than callous" and demonstrates that the Kremlin "only wants peace on its own terms".

"[Russia] has several objectives, none of them good and none of them consistent with the laws of war," he said.

"Firstly, to terrorise the people of Ukraine. That's been a consistent objective of these attacks throughout the war.

 

[GUSNOTE: THE KIEV GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN TERRORISING THE PEOPLE OF THE DONBASS SINCE AT LEAST 2014 — KILLING AT LEAST 15,000 PEOPLE...]

 

'Terror is the objective': Army veteran

Major General Ryan told ABC News that Russia's Christmas strikes on Ukraine were "more than callous" and demonstrates that the Kremlin "only wants peace on its own terms".

"[Russia] has several objectives, none of them good and none of them consistent with the laws of war," he said.

"Firstly, to terrorise the people of Ukraine. That's been a consistent objective of these attacks throughout the war.

[GUSNOTE: ZELENSKY IS NOW ONLY SUPPORTED BY 15 PER CENT OF UKRAINIANS... MOST OF THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO GET RID OF HIM AND HIS NAZI ACOLYTES, BUT DESPITE BEING AN ILLEGITIMATE RULER/DESPOT/DICTATOR SINCE MAY 2024, ZELENSKY IS MAINTAINING HIS OFFICE ONLY BY REFUSING TO HOLD ELECTIONS]

WHO CARES ABOUT WHAT MICK RYAN THINKS — OR WHAT BIDEN THINKS (HE'S GONE TO GAGAVILLE AND THE DECISIONS ARE MADE BY AWFUL BLINKEN, DEVIOUS AUSTINUS AND DESPICABLE SULLIVAN):

 

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

 

 

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

 

EASY.

 

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…

 

 

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.

 

SEE ALSO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDaZld27Pbs