Over 100 evacuate Russia’s Belgorod while soldiers celebrate Orthodox Christmas on the front line

More 100 residents of the Russian border city of Belgorod have evacuated to an area further from the Ukrainian border, local officials said.

“On behalf of the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, we met the first Belgorod residents who decided to move to the safest place. More than 100 people were placed in our temporary accommodation centers,” Andrey Chesnokov, head of the Stary Oskol district, some 115 kilometers (71 miles) from Belgorod, wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian attacks on Dec. 30 in Belgorod killed 25 people, officials there said, with rocket and drone attacks continuing throughout this week.

Meanwhile, Russian military personnel marked Orthodox Christmas on Sunday. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that military priests led prayer services on the front line both on Sunday and on Christmas Eve night.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin was joined by families of military personnel who have died in the war in Ukraine at Christmas Eve services at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence, in the western suburbs of Moscow.

“Many of our men, our courageous, heroic guys, are warriors of Russia even now, during the holiday — with arms in hand they defend the interests of our country,” he said to the attending families, according to the Kremlin’s press service.

In Ukraine, air defense shot down 21 of 28 drones launched by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said Sunday. Russia also launched three anti-aircraft missiles against Ukraine.

The southern city of Kherson was subject Sunday to numerous shelling attacks from Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region, across the Dnieper River, local officials said. Tthe head of the Kherson city administration, Roman Mrochko, said two people died in the attacks and several others were wounded.

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