Zelensky says Ukrainians just want Putin dead as his country and Russia trade record deadly overnight drone strikes

Russia and Ukraine traded a record barrage of killer drone strikes overnight into Christmas — as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said many of his countrymen just want to see Vladimir Putin dead.

” ‘May he perish,’ each of us may think to ourselves,” Zelensky said during his Christmas Eve message in an oblique reference to the Russian tyrant.

“But when we turn to God, of course, we ask for something greater. We ask for peace for Ukraine — we fight for it, and we pray for it, and we deserve it do that every Ukrainian family lives in harmony,” he said.

Russia meanwhile launched 131 drones into Ukraine overnight, with 22 of them striking 15 locations inside the country while 106 were thwarted, the Ukrainian air force said.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Services said on Telegram on Christmas morning that at least one person was killed and 14 others injured by Russian strikes in the past 24 hours, ABC News reported.

Russia’s defense ministry said it shot down at least 387 Ukrainian drones in that same period — including more than a dozen over Moscow. The barrage of Ukrainian drones represented the largest number reported in a 24-period since the start of the war, the Kremlin said.

Although Zelensky tempered his seemingly bellicose Christmas message regarding Putin, it was poorly received by the Russian government.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it “uncultured, embittered, and coming from a seemingly unhinged person” and questioned whether the Ukrainian president is “capable of making any rational decisions” because of it, Russian media reports.

Zelensky’s message, and the drone strikes, followed his presenting a new 20-point peace plan to try to end the neighboring nations’ nearly four-year war, sparked with Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

“Moscow has not only rejected the request to end the killing at least for this Holy Day, instead, Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike against Ukraine’s energy grid, causing power outages, and continues frontline assaults,” Zelensky said of the continuing holiday carnage.

“Regrettably, Russia continues to reject real cease-fire proposals, as it has done throughout the year. Instead, it is clearly seeking ways to prolong the war and continue attacks.”