WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he had asked the Defense Department to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, after condemning Russia's Christmas Day attack on Ukraine's energy system and some of its cities.

Western equipment has slotted in to Ukraine's embattled, Soviet-era military throughout the war, including long-range missiles and advanced fighter jets.

Ukrainians faced fresh Russian drone and missile strikes on energy infrastructure nationwide on Tuesday night into Christmas Day morning.

Moscow again struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, part of an effort to wear down the country. “In the trenches, there are no holidays,” one man said.

Russia launches a Christmas Day missile attack on Ukraine as the war enters its third year. NBC News’ Erin McLaughlin reports on the shifting battleground there and in Washington, D.C.

Russia attacked Ukraine's energy system and some cities in an "inhuman" Christmas Day assault, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Russia launched aerial attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector “on a massive scale” overnight into Wednesday, local authorities said, with explosions reported across the country amid intensified bombardments that have left Ukraine in a precarious position while the war grinds into a third winter.

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he asked the U.S. Defense Department to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine after condemning Russia's Christmas Day attack against some of Ukraine's cities and its energy system.

Zelensky warns of greater military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, including sending more troops and military equipment

Back then, in the first weeks of the war, Russia and Ukraine conducted several rounds of talks in person and online aimed at ending the conflict; although a framework for peace called the Istanbul Communiqué was drawn up,

The missile has been branded as Ukraine's answer to dwindling Western aid, building self-reliance in defense technologies.