Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the fact that his compatriots are now celebrating Christmas with the West, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
"Christmas unites all Ukrainians", Zelensky said last night in his evening video address. "Today we are united. And as long as this is the case, evil has no chance," he stressed.
However, there are reports that many Ukrainians continue to exchange gifts mainly according to the old custom on New Year's Eve and celebrate Orthodox Christmas on January 7, as in Russia, DPA notes.
Earlier yesterday, Zelensky spoke by phone with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Since last year, Ukraine has celebrated Christmas on December 25 according to the New Julian calendar. The decision was made after Russia's full-scale invasion of the country the previous year.
Previously, both countries celebrated Christmas on January 7 according to the Julian calendar.
Meanwhile, at least one person was killed and 15 injured in a Russian missile attack on Zelensky's hometown of Kryvyi Rih on Christmas Eve, the local military administration said.
"The Russians are murderers", the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, reacted angrily, posting a photo of a destroyed house on Telegram. He accused the enemy of holding nothing sacred and showing no humanity.
Russia regularly carries out missile and drone attacks on Zelensky's hometown, DPA notes.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army reported, quoted by Ukrinform, an increase in Russian attacks using equipment in the Toretsk, Kramatorsk and Seversk directions in eastern Donetsk region.
Previously, such attacks were rarely observed, specifically only in the direction of Seversk, noted military spokeswoman Anastasia Bobovnikova.
She added, quoted again by Ukrinform, that the situation remains most difficult in Toretsk, where fighting is taking place literally for every building.
The city, which had over 30,000 residents before the war began, is located in Bakhmutsky district and stands on one of the roads to Konstantinovka (Kostyantynovka in Ukrainian - ed.), on west.
The participation of North Korean soldiers together with the Russian army against Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region "has not had a significant impact" on the course of hostilities, a Ukrainian military intelligence official assured, quoted by Agence France-Presse and BTA.
According to Kiev, 12,000 North Korean soldiers, including "about 500 officers and three generals", are engaged in this border region of Ukraine, which the Ukrainian army has occupied an area of several hundred square kilometers since August.
Neither Russia nor North Korea have ever confirmed the presence of this contingent on Russian territory, AFP recalls.
"The participation of the North Koreans in the hostilities has not had a significant impact on the situation. "It's not a large number of people," said Yevgeny Yerin, a spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence (GRU).
He said North Korean troops lacked modern combat experience, especially against drones, which are now ubiquitous on the battlefield, and were using "more primitive tactics than during World War II or the post-World War II period."
"But they are also learning. And we cannot underestimate the enemy. And we see that they are already taking some things into account in their actions," he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been "killed or wounded" since being sent to Russia. Seoul, for its part, said on Monday that 1,100 Koreans had been "killed or wounded."
The South Korean military's general staff has also observed preparations that lead it to believe that North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia, either as reinforcements or to relieve those already fighting. Drones will also be sent.