Kyiv: Russian-controlled areas of the country's Donetsk region saw two thermal power plants damaged by Ukrainian shelling, according to officials installed in Moscow on Sunday.

According to preliminary information, injuries may have resulted from the shelling in Zuhres and Novyi Svit, the authorities reported on their Telegram monitoring channel.

Attacks inside of Russia or on Ukrainian territory under Russian control almost never result in a public admission of guilt from Ukraine. 

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Despite Vladimir Putin, the leader of the Kremlin, ordering his forces to halt their attacks, fighting continued on Saturday as Russians and Ukrainians celebrated Orthodox Christmas in a war-torn atmosphere.

The fighting continued in the war-torn cities of eastern Ukraine, with AFP journalists in Chasiv Yar, a town south of the frontline city of Bakhmut, hearing heavy artillery fire for the majority of Saturday morning.

Insisting that its forces were abiding by the unilateral cease-fire, the Russian defence ministry also claimed that on Friday, the army had repelled attacks in eastern Ukraine and killed dozens of Ukrainian soldiers.

According to Ukrainian authorities, only three people died on Friday.
At an Orthodox Christmas service in Moscow's Cathedral of the Annunciation, 70-year-old Putin stood by himself.

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Thousands of worshippers gathered in Kyiv's most important Orthodox monastery to hear Metropolitan Epifaniy, the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, preside over a liturgy at the 11th-century Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

In his evening address, President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his happiness at the large turnout for the service on a day that "has already become historic for Ukraine, for the spiritual independence of our people."

The world "was once again able to see how false any words of any level coming from Moscow are" on the Orthodox Holy Day, he continued.
"They mentioned a purported cease-fire... However, the truth is that Bakhmut and other Ukrainian positions were once more hit by Russian shells.
The cease-fire, which is scheduled to last until Saturday night (2100 GMT), was previously dismissed by Ukraine as a ruse by Russia to buy time for its forces to reorganise.

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Putin gave the order to cease hostilities after Moscow suffered its highest number of casualties in a single attack to date, at least 89 troops in the eastern town of Makiivka being killed by Ukrainian airstrikes.