Sir Keir Starmer has condemned Russia’s Christmas Day bombardment of Ukraine, saying the hail of missiles and drones was “bloody and brutal”.

The prime minister lamented that there was “no respite even at Christmas” for Ukrainians, who spent the morning sheltering in metro stations as bombs rained down on their cities.

Russia’s defence ministry said it carried out a “massive strike” on energy facilities that it claimed supported Kyiv’s military.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also condemned the attack, saying Russia was seeking to plunge his people into darkness.

“Putin deliberately chose Christmas,” he said on Wednesday. “What could be more inhumane?”

In the east, Kremlin forces claim to have captured the settlement of Vidrodzhennia as they continue to make territorial gains.

‘Christmas gift to Ukraine’

Regions across the country reported missile and drone strikes as Ukrainians spend another holiday season facing attacks on their power infrastructure.

Kyiv’s military said it downed 59 Russian missiles and 54 drones, but others made it through their air defences.

Strikes in Kharkiv wounded six people and left half a million in the region without heating, as temperatures hovered just a few degrees above zero.

“Kharkiv is under massive missile fire. A series of explosions rang out in the city and there are still ballistic missiles flying in the direction of the city. Stay in safe places,” Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

In the capital, residents faced blackouts while in Dnipro region one person was killed.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysa said the Russian army is trying to destroy the region’s power system.

Ukrainians, marking their second Christmas since changing to celebrate on the same day as the West, sheltered in underground metro stations as the deadly salvo of missiles soared towards them.

“Russia’s Christmas gift to Ukraine: more than 70 missiles and 100 drones,” US ambassador Bridget Brink said. “For the third holiday season, Russia weaponises winter.”

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Four dead in Kursk region

In the east, Ukrainian soldiers celebrated Christmas by candlelight as they ate together near the frontline.

Fighting continues to be tough in Donbas, as Russian forces push forward and make steady gains.

On Wednesday, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken the settlement of Vidrodzhennia.

Across the border, in Russia’s Kursk region, four people were killed and five injured in the town of Lgov after Ukrainian shelling, the region’s acting governor said.

“A five-storey residential building, two single-storey residential buildings and a single-storey beauty salon were seriously damaged,” Alexander Khinshtein wrote on Telegram.

Pope calls for peace talks

In the Vatican, Pope Francis mentioned the war in Ukraine directly during his Christmas Day message, calling for “the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation”.

Speaking to thousands of people from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, he said: “May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine!”

He also called for “gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace”.

Dozens are feared dead after a passenger plane carrying 67 people crashed in Kazakhstan, the country’s emergencies ministry said.

Authorities say 27 people survived the Christmas morning crash, including three children.

The Azerbaijan Airlines flight was en route from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia, but was rerouted due to fog.

It crashed near the city of Aktau, in the west of the country.

A video believed to capture the moment of impact shows the aircraft plunging towards ground at speed, and a resulting ball of flame.

Pictures from the crash site show the wrecked tail section of the Embraer 190 plane, with emergency services working around it.

More than 50 rescuers are at the scene, where a fire has been extinguished, Kazakhstani authorities said.

It’s not yet clear what happened that caused the plane – which was carrying 62 passengers and five crew – to crash.

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Survivors are being treated at a nearby hospital.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the aircraft had been forced to make an emergency landing at Aktau airport.

Russia’s aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.

Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of Vladimir Putin and leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences and said those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.

The sense of hollowness of the Church of the Nativity is deeper than absent tourists.

The chants and prayers are pain-stricken and desperate.

Down in the manger by the enshrined spot where baby Jesus was said to be born, a priest solemnly swings incense into the corners.

There is no beautifully-lit tree in the square outside for the second year in a row. Even in their homes, the Palestinian Christian community in Bethlehem is struggling to celebrate.

The empty spaces and lack of tourism are the shadow of 14 months of war in Gaza and a daily reminder of the ongoing devastation.

And around their family homes, Israeli settlements in the West Bank – illegal under international law – are inching closer.

‘Our country is shrinking’

“Normally we spend Christmas in Bethlehem and Jerusalem but this year there are no celebrations because of what is happening with the war. It is not nice to celebrate while people are dying,” says Alice Kisiya.

Alice is from Beit Jala, Bethlehem. For five years, her family have waged legal battles with settlers over their generational home.

“Each Christmas we had demolition because each time they come and demolish. Last year, we were celebrating Christmas there and they came and demolished our small tent,” says Alice.

She and her family are waiting for a Supreme Court ruling in January on whether they can return.

“Our country is shrinking. As Palestinian Christians, we cannot really have our freedom to move freely and it’s getting worse.”

Her words resonate as we drive along the West Bank wall on the edges of Bethlehem.

A stark reminder of the political divide that is tearing through the Holy Land.

‘It seems destiny of Holy Land is to stay divided’

On the other side of the wall from the sacred site where Jesus was born is where he was crucified in Jerusalem.

We hear that the procession of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is soon arriving through a checkpoint inside the wall into Bethlehem to the Church of Nativity.

A crowd of eager Catholics are waiting for him by Rachel’s Tomb, a sacred site for Orthodox Jews.

School children visiting the tomb are ushered off the street by elders aware of the arriving procession.

They start to sing defiantly as older students are forcefully removed from the road by Israeli police.

There is a hushed sense of anticipation and awe from those waiting for Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa to arrive from the Church of Holy Sepulchre – where Jesus was crucified – to the Church of the Nativity, where he was born in refuge.

“This is an important more than a thousand-year-old tradition,” says Tony Marcos, Dean of the Catholic Action Foundation.

As a Palestinian resident of the West Bank, Tony is not permitted to make the procession between the two holy sites.

“It seems the destiny of this Holy Land is to stay divided and these are difficult times we are living in,” he adds.

“Christmas is the season of love and the season of hope. There is big pain and there is instability – a lot of sacrifices and a lot of blood,” he says.

‘We want next year to be full of light’

The anxiety seems to dissipate as Cardinal Pizzaballa arrives.

He shakes hands with a queue of people eager to get close to the leader of the Church they cannot visit.

“This Christmas, we want people not to lose hope. It is possible to break down the hatred, the division, the contempt and the lack of justice and dignity we are experiencing here,” says Cardinal Pizzaballa.

“The prayer is to raise our gaze and to look forward, not backwards. We want the next year to be full of light – lighted in the darkness.”

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This year, the thousand-year-old tradition is more powerful than ever.

“The meaning [of this crossing] is that it is possible. Even when there are enormous and difficult walls, it is possible to pass them.”