Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed his compatriots on Sunday with a Christmas message of encouragement in the face of Russia’s ongoing invasion.

“In the end, darkness will lose. Evil will be defeated,” Zelensky said in the video message published on Sunday.

He added that the whole country would pray together during the holidays “for our freedom. For our victory. For our Ukraine.”

Zelensky thanked Ukrainian soldiers who are spending Christmas in the trenches at the front, and also shared his thoughts with all the families who will once again have to celebrate this year without husbands, sons and fathers who are fighting.

The Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022, so this is Ukraine’s second winter at war with its much larger neighbour.

Ukraine has largely shifted the celebration of Christmas to December 25, the date in which the holiday is celebrated in much of the world, from January 7, the date of the holiday in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Only the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has long been linked to Moscow, has stuck with the old date.

“All our warriors of light, the guardian angels of Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “They prove that miracles exist, but we must create them ourselves.”

Russian attacks on Ukraine continued overnight, with combat drones aimed at targets in the Ukrainian regions of Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk.

But Ukrainian air defences managed to intercept 14 of 15 unmanned aerial vehicles, the Ukrainian air force announced on Telegram on Sunday morning.

In the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, the authorities reported casualties from Russian shelling the day before.

They said four residents had been killed and nine others injured as a result of artillery fire on residential neighbourhoods in Kherson, the regional capital of the same name. One child was among the injured.