Russia killed two civilians while shelling Ukraine on December 28
Destruction in an apartment in a high-rise building in Kherson, which came under a Russian strike on December 28, 2025.The victims of the Russian strikes on December 28 were:
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A 51-year-old man from Sloviansk, who did not survive a Russian airstrike with at least three guided bombs on the city.
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A 52-year-old man from Beryslav died due to morning artillery shelling by the Russian Federation.
In addition to those killed in both regions, in the Donetsk region, which the Russians struck nearly 1.4 thousand times over the day, four residents from Sloviansk and a woman from Lyman were injured.
A fire that broke out in a private yard in Sloviansk due to a strike by the Russian army with guided aerial bombsIn the Kherson Oblast, Russian military shelling injured ten civilians, the vast majority of whom are Kherson residents from the Korabelnyi District. At dawn, the Russian army launched strikes on it using multiple launch rocket systems, as a result of which nine people aged 22 to 78 were injured. The civilians sustained mine-blast injuries, concussions, acute stress reaction, and hypertensive crisis, but the report does not specify whether they were receiving outpatient treatment.
Another female resident of Kherson sustained injuries on December 28 when the Russian military struck the regional center with artillery. As a result, the civilian ended up in the hospital with a mine-blast injury, concussion, and a shoulder bruise.
First, the Russians hit Zolochiv with a drone, killing livestock on a farm and frightening the owner, then they struck Novoplatonivka with a drone, wounding a retiree, and later they also hit a car in the village of Hroza with a drone.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, with a two-hour difference, the Russians hit civilian cars with drones and injured two retirees.
In the Sumy Oblast on December 28, a woman was injured due to a Russian drone attack.
Rescuers in the Dnipropetrovsk region are carrying a man injured by a Russian strike to a medical vehicleMeanwhile, on December 29, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Ukraine allegedly launched a strike on the residence of the accused of a war crime by the International Criminal Court, Vladimir Putin, on Monday night, because of which the “negotiating position will be reviewed.”
According to Lavrov, Ukraine allegedly attacked Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region (likely referring to the residence in Valday) using 91 attack UAVs.
Ukraine stated that Russia fabricated the claim to undermine the peace process. That confirms assessments by numerous experts and politicians that Moscow doesn’t seek peace.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on Moscow’s disinformation, stating that Russia is displeased by the success of the Ukraine-U.S. meeting in Florida and is inventing reasons to justify strikes on government buildings in Kyiv.
“Another lie by Russia. Obviously, yesterday we had the meeting with Trump, and obviously, for the Russians, if there is no quarrel between America and us, and we have progress instead, then that is a failure for them. They don’t want to end this war. They are only capable of ending it under pressure. And so they were looking, I am convinced, for reasons… and they are going further. Now, with this claim about some residence being attacked, I am convinced they are simply preparing the ground to strike the [Ukrainian] capital, and probably government buildings at that,” the President said in comments to Ukrainian journalists, recalling Russia’s missile attack on the Cabinet of Ministers building in September 2025.
“So everyone needs to be vigilant now, absolutely everyone. There may be a strike on the capital. Especially since this person – if one can call him a person – said they would select appropriate targets, meaning they are issuing threats,” Zelenskyy said. He added that the U.S. president, his team, and the Europeans need to get involved and “do the appropriate work with the people of whom it was said only yesterday that they very much want to end the war.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha believes that Russia’s statements about alleged “attempts to attack Putin’s residence” are an attempt to create a pretext and a false justification for further Russian attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine calls on the world to condemn “Russia’s provocative statements aimed at disrupting the constructive peace process,” noting that Ukraine remains committed to peace efforts led by the USA.
