The possibility that a power cable under the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia has been sabotaged is being investigated after it stopped working on Christmas Day.

Authorities in both countries are examining whether a foreign ship may have been involved, without naming the vessel.

It’s the latest in a series of incidents in the region in which undersea cables appear to have been damaged.

The Estlink-2 cable suffered a sudden failure on Wednesday, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said.

“The police, in cooperation with the Border Guard and other authorities, are investigating the chain of events of the incident,” Finnish police said in a statement.

There was no power loss to citizens in either Estonia or Finland during the outage, with Estonia saying they had enough spare capacity to meet power needs, public broadcaster ERR said on its website.

But the 658 megawatt (MW) Estlink 2 power interconnector remained offline following the outage that began at midday local time, leaving only the 358 MW Estlink 1 in operation between the two countries, operator Fingrid said.

Baltic Sea nations are on high alert for potential acts of sabotage following a string of outages of power cables, telecom
links and gas pipelines since 2022, although subsea equipment is also subject to technical malfunction and accidents.

Yesterday’s incident comes after the Balticconnector gas pipeline linking Finland and Estonia was damaged last year, along with several telecoms cables.

Finnish police investigating that incident said it was likely caused by a ship dragging its anchor.

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It comes as Swedish police are leading an investigation into the breach last month of two Baltic Sea telecom cables, in an incident German defence minister Boris Pistorius has said he assumed was caused by sabotage.

The Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that once brought natural gas from Russia to Germany were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022.

Authorities have termed it sabotage and launched criminal probes.

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.