Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy urges courage at Christmas

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy painted a picture of struggle and resilience in an emotional Christmas message. 

The video message was circulated on Christmas Eve, precisely 10 months after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

"We have endured attacks, threats, nuclear blackmail, terror and missile strikes. Let us get through this winter because we know what we are fighting for," Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president stood in front of a darkened street, with a few twinkling lights and a Christmas tree in the background.

"We believe that tears will give way to joy, that hope will come after despair and death will be defeated by life," Zelenskyy said.

His remarks came as Russia launched a deadly barrage of shelling on Saturday that targeted the southern port city of Kherson. Ten people were killed and 55 injured during the attacks.

With repeated Russian strikes targeting critical infrastructure in Ukraine, many across the country have faced power outages and no heating in recent weeks.

The president emphasized, however, that Moscow's attacks have not broken the spirit of the holiday.

"And even in total darkness, we will find each other to hug tightly. And if there is no heating, we will warm ourselves with a big hug," Zelenskyy said.

"We will not wait for a miracle, we will do it ourselves," he added.

Orthodox Ukrainians have traditionally celebrated Christmas on January 7. But December 25 is also designated as an official Christmas holiday in Ukraine.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine recently agreed to allow the faithful to celebrate Christmas on December 25. The move represents a separation from Russia, where Christmas is celebrated on January 7. 

Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on Sunday, December 25:

Zelenskyy's adviser says Putin certainly does not want to negotiate

Despite Vladimir Putin's repeated hints at his willingness to hold talks over the war in Ukraine, Kyiv says it doesn't trust the Russian president's words. 

"Russia does not want negotiations and is trying to evade responsibility for the war," Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, tweeted on Sunday. "This is obvious, so we are moving towards a tribunal."

Ukraine thinks that Russia's political and military leadership should stand trial for the war before an international tribunal modeled on the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis in World War II.

"Russia alone attacked Ukraine and is killing its citizens," Podolyak further wrote. There are no other "sides, motives or geopolitics," he added.

Putin has indicated a willingness to negotiate several times in recent days, but without addressing the preconditions set by Ukraine. Kyiv is first demanding the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, including Crimea, which was occupied in 2014, as well as reparations.

Medvedev says only Russia's nuclear arms preventing West from declaring war

Russia's nuclear arsenal and the rules Moscow has laid out for its use are the only factors preventing the West from starting a war against Russia, a top ally of President Vladimir Putin said in an article.

Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, also said Moscow would pursue its war in Ukraine until the "disgusting, almost fascist regime" in Kyiv was removed and the country had been totally demilitarized.

"Is the West ready to unleash a fully-fledged war against us, including a nuclear war, at the hands of Kyiv?" he wrote in an article for the Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper.

"The only thing that stops our enemies today is the understanding that Russia will be guided by the fundamentals of state policy ... on nuclear deterrence. And in the event that a real threat arises, it will act on them," he added.

Medvedev also said Russia could forget about normal ties with the West for years and perhaps decades to come and would focus instead on relations with the rest of the world.

Russia has the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, with close to 6,000 warheads, according to experts.

Ukraine claims 70 Russian officers injured after command post hit in south

At least 70 Russian officers were injured after an attack on a Russian command post in the Kherson region, in the south of the country, according to the Ukrainian armed forces.

It was unclear how many had died but at least 70 officers were injured after Ukrainian forces attacked during a meeting in the village of Zabaryne, the army said. 

Ukrainian fighters have attacked Russian command centres and command posts repeatedly since the start of the invasion, locating them by monitoring radio traffic or the mobile phone network.  Several senior Russian officers have died in similar attacks.

China defends its 'impartial' position on the war 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi defended what he said was his country's position of "objectivity and impartiality" on the war in Ukraine.

"With regard to the Ukraine crisis, we have consistently upheld the fundamental principles of objectivity and impartiality, without favoring one side or the other, or adding fuel to the fire, still less seeking selfish gains from the situation," Wang said, according to an official text of his remarks.

Wang also signaled that China would seek to strengthen its ties with Russia, saying Beijing would "deepen strategic mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation" with Moscow. 

Pope Francis urges end to 'senseless' war 

In his traditional Christmas Day message, the head of the Catholic Church appealed for an end to the "senseless" war in Ukraine. 

Pope Francis delivered a prayer for "our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes." 

"May the Lord inspire us to offer concrete gestures of solidarity to assist all those who are suffering, and may he enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the thunder of weapons and put an immediate end to this senseless war!" he said.

Putin says Russians 'not the ones refusing to negotiate' 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was ready to negotiate but other parties were not.

"We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them — we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are," Putin told state television in an interview aired on Sunday.

Shortly after Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators convened for several rounds of peace talks — but no agreement was reached. 

Kyiv demands that Russian troops withdraw from Ukraine, while Putin claims that he launched what he describes as a "military operation" to "demilitarize" Ukraine and "liberate" the country's ethnic Russian minority. 

In the interview broadcast Sunday, he said he believed Russia was acting "in the right direction" to defend "our people."

Putin also slammed the West for what he said was trying to "tear apart" Russia.

"At the core of it all is the policy of our geopolitical opponents, aiming to tear apart Russia, the historical Russia," he said. The Kremlin has long promoted the notion that Ukraine was not a country but rather a historical part of Russia.

"They have always tried to 'divide and conquer'... Our goal is something else — to unite the Russian people," he added.

Poll: 45% of Germans against delivering tanks to Ukraine

The German dpa news agency reported, citing a survey it commissioned, that nearly half of Germans oppose supplying Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has specifically pressured to receive the Leopard 2 tanks, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declined the request. 

After criticism from Kyiv for initially not agreeing to supply weapons to Ukraine, Berlin argues that other allies have provided arms similar to the Leopard 2. 

Dpa said the survey conducted by YouGov found that 33% of the German population supported delivering the tanks to Ukraine, 45% opposed and 22% did not state a preference. 

According to the survey, 41% of supporters of Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) opposed the delivery, while 40% were in favor. SPD politicians are generally against supplying the tanks. 

Half of the Green supporters backed the delivery, while 25% opposed it. Green politicians have been largely in favor. 

While many politicians from the liberal FDP have backed providing Ukraine with weapons, their supporters are split: 42% against and 33% in favor. 

Air raid sirens wail across Ukraine

Air raid sirens wailed across Kyiv and several other Ukrainian regions on Sunday morning. 

A total of 14 regions witnessed the alert, including Russian occupied Crimea, The Kyiv Independent tweeted.

The alerts might have been a result of Russian jets which took to the skies in Belarus, claimed unconfirmed social media reports from Ukraine.

Several killed while demining Kherson

Three emergency service workers died while attempting to remove mines around the Kherson region.

"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.

Ukrainian explosives experts have been sent across the country after Ukrainian officials warned that Russia likely left numerous explosives in the ground. 

The US State Department estimates that some 160,000 square kilometers (62,000 square miles) of land in Ukraine needs to be checked for mines and other explosives. The search area is larger than half of Germany's total area of land.

More on the war

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will use his Christmas speech to call for peace in Ukraine after 10 months of "terrible suffering." When peace comes, he said, it must benefit the Ukrainian people and not Russia.

rs/sri (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)