{"id":210512,"date":"2025-12-25T16:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/210512\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T16:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:59:09","slug":"ukraines-president-zelensky-appears-to-wish-death-to-putin-in-christmas-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/210512\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine\u2019s president Zelensky appears to wish death to Putin in Christmas message"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a video posted to X on Christmas Eve, Zelensky said that \u201cdespite all the suffering that Russia has brought, it is not capable of occupying or bombing what matters most. That is our Ukrainian heart, our faith in one another, and our unity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Appearing to refer to Russian president Vladimir Putin, Zelensky added: \u201cToday, we all share one dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we make one wish – for all of us. \u2018May he perish\u2019, each of us may think to ourselves. But when we turn to God, of course, we ask for something greater. we ask for peace for Ukraine. We fight for it, we pray for it, we deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His comments come after Russia hit regions across Ukraine with missiles and drones on Tuesday, killing at least three people, and triggering emergency power outages.<\/p>\n

Further attacks saw at least two people killed in drone strikes on Odesa and Kharkiv.<\/p>\n

\"Mr<\/p>\n

Mr Zelensky said that \u2018nearly 90%\u2019 of Ukraine\u2019s demands have been incorporated into the draft agreements (Peter Dejong\/AP)<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s leader said in his address: \u201cOn the eve of Christmas, the Russians once again showed who they truly are.<\/p>\n

\u201cMassive shelling, hundreds of \u201cshaheds\u201d, ballistic missiles, Kinzhal strikes – everything was used. This is how the godless strike\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor all our fallen heroes who defended Ukraine at the cost of their lives. For everyone whom Russia has driven into occupation and forced to flee.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those for whom it is hard, but who have not lost Ukraine within themselves – and therefore Ukraine will never lose them. Today we stand shoulder to shoulder. We will not lose our way in the darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelensky has said that he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country\u2019s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s president explained that he would be open to this if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarised zone monitored by international forces.<\/p>\n

The US has proposed the creation of a \u201cfree economic zone\u201d, which Zelensky said should be demilitarised.<\/p>\n

\"Ukrainian<\/p>\n

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: PA<\/p>\n

Today’s News in 90 Seconds – Thursday, December 25th<\/p>\n

A similar arrangement could be possible for the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is currently under Russian control.<\/p>\n

But any peace plan would need to be put to a referendum, the president has insisted.<\/p>\n

American negotiators have engaged in a series of talks with Ukraine and Russia separately since US president Donald Trump presented a plan to end the war last month \u2014 a proposal widely seen as favouring Moscow, which invaded its neighbour nearly four years ago.<\/p>\n

Since then, Ukraine and its allies in Europe have worked to pull the plan closer to Kyiv’s position.<\/p>\n

Russian air defence units downed 25 Moscow-bound Ukrainian drones throughout the day on Wednesday, according to Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s military said its drones overnight had struck the Yefremov synthetic rubber plant in Russia’s Tula region south of Moscow and a storage facility for marine drones in Russian-occupied Crimea.<\/p>\n

Tula regional Governor Dmitry Milyaev said debris from a downed Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an industrial site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a video posted to X on Christmas Eve, Zelensky said that \u201cdespite all the suffering that Russia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,898,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-210512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news-ticker","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}