<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Spanish government on Friday "strongly" condemned the attacks carried out by Russia on Christmas Day against Ukraine and its energy infrastructure, whose aim is to "undermine the civilian population by causing a supply crisis in the middle of winter."</strong></h4> "Spain strongly condemns the Russian attacks against Ukraine and its energy infrastructure on Christmas Day," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. "These attacks seek to undermine the civilian population by causing a supply crisis in the middle of winter," it added. "The protection of civilians and basic infrastructure is a priority of Spain's foreign policy," it concluded. According to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, through social networks, the Russian government of Vladimir Putin "deliberately chose Christmas" to launch a massive attack with "more than 70 missiles, including ballistic ones, and more than a hundred attack drones." "The targets are our energy. They continue to fight for a blackout in Ukraine," he continued. According to the Kyiv government's "preliminary data", Ukrainian defenders "managed to shoot down more than 50 missiles and a significant part of the drones", although some attacks were "unfortunately successful" and "outages in several regions" have been recorded. "Every massive Russian attack requires preparation time. It is never a spontaneous decision. It is a conscious choice not only of the targets, but also of the time and date," he added. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that a new agreement on the transit of Russian gas to the European Union through Ukraine will not be reached before the current contract expires on January 1, which, he warned, could cause a new spike in gas prices. However, he assured that the Kremlin is willing to continue supplying gas to European customers. For his part, Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Russian gas transit will stop at 06:00 GMT on January 1 and warned that Ukraine will not allow Russian gas to pass through even if it is sold first to third countries and then to Europe. Kiev remains firm in its refusal to negotiate a new contract, arguing that any agreement would financially benefit Russia amid its aggression against Ukraine. The European Commission and the High Representative of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, denounced on Friday the “alleged attacks on critical infrastructure” in the Baltic by a ship allegedly linked to “the Russian shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment while financing the Russian war budget”, for which reason they have requested the reinforcement of sanctions and measures against these activities.
