Russian shelling and drone attacks reported in region of Kherson; Ukrainians plan to celebrate Christmas on 25 December for the first time

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Waves of Russian shelling and drone attacks struck the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on Saturday, killing one person and injuring seven, officials in the region said. Russian forces also shelled a power station closer to the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, injuring five workers and knocking out electricity to the town of Kurakhovo.

Many Ukrainians will on Monday celebrate Christmas Day on 25 December for the first time, after the government changed the date from the Orthodox Church observance of 7 January in a snub to Russia, Agence France-Presse reports. The law signed by president Volodymyr Zelenskiy noted that Ukrainians wanted to “live their own life with their own traditions and holidays”. It allows them to “abandon the Russian heritage of imposing Christmas celebrations on 7 January”, it added. Christianity is the largest religion in Ukraine, with the Russian Orthodox Church dominating religious life until recently.

Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova has said she will challenge in the supreme court the decision to disqualify her from running in the Russian presidential election next year, calling it unjustified and undemocratic.

Poland’s new foreign minister has called on European countries to boost long-term plans for military production after returning from his first foreign visit, to neighbouring Ukraine. “Wars are not decided by tactical engagements but by industrial capacities, and we are behind the curve,” said Radosław Sikorski, in an interview in Warsaw, a few hours after returning from Kyiv on Saturday.

Financial institutions that support the Russian military-industrial complex are to be blacklisted in the US after president Joe Biden signed an executive order yesterday to deny banks under sanctions access to the American financial system.

Fighting age Ukrainian men in Estonia could be extradited to their home country and forced to join the war effort amid a shortage of soldiers. Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR reports that the Baltic nation stands ready to support Ukraine in its proposals to conscript Ukrainian men abroad for military service.

The Communist party of Russia, the second largest party in parliament, has selected a 75-year-old candidate, Nikolai Kharitonov, who won just under 14% of the national vote when he stood against Putin in 2004, to stand in the presidential polls.

The assassination of the Wagner mercenary army chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was approved by a close ally of Vladimir Putin, the Wall Street Journal has reported after conversations with western intelligence officials and a former Russian intelligence officer.

Protesting Polish truckers have unblocked the key border crossing of Shehyni-Medyka between Poland and Ukraine, Kyiv’s economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced, hailing an “important improvement”.

Both Ukrainian and Russian troops are suffering from “exceptional levels of rat and mice infestation” in some sectors of the frontline, according to UK intelligence. The Ministry of Defence says rodent populations have risen due to milder temperatures in recent months and plenty of food.