Russia is preparing to stage a major atrocity with significant human casualties which it will blame on Ukraine, Kyiv's foreign intelligence service has claimed.

The aim is to disrupt Donald Trump's peace drive and carry on the war, it is alleged.

The feared massacre could come as Russians mark Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on 6 and 7 January, according to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine [FISU].

'With a high degree of probability, we predict a shift from manipulative influence to an armed provocation by Russia's security services, with significant loss of life,' said the agency which is headed by Lt-Gen Oleh Ivashchenko.

'The expected timing is immediately before or during the celebration of Christmas according to the Julian calendar.

'The site of the provocation could be a place of worship or another object with high symbolic value, both in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

'To fabricate "evidence" of Ukraine's involvement, it is planned to use fragments of Western-made strike [drones], which would be delivered to the location of the provocation from the line of contact.'

Russia is preparing to stage a major atrocity with significant human casualties which it will blame on Ukraine, warned Kyiv's foreign intelligence service. A building in Kyiv on fire following a Russian combined drone and ballistic missile attack 

The aim is to disrupt Donald Trump's peace drive and carry on the war, it is alleged. Pictured: People stand on balconies of a damaged residential building following an attack, in Odesa, on December 31, 2025

The feared massacre could come as Russians mark Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on 6 and 7 January, according to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine [FISU]

The FISU warned: 'Exploiting fear and carrying out terrorist acts with casualties "under a false flag" fully corresponds to the working style of Russia's security services.

'Putin's regime has repeatedly used this tactic inside the Russian Federation, and now the same model is being exported abroad, which is indirectly confirmed by public statements from senior Russian officials.'

The statement said another recent 'false flag' was an alleged Ukrainian drone surge on a Vladimir Putin palace in Russia's Novgorod region.

'After the so-called 'attack on Putin's residence', we have recorded the Kremlin spreading new fabricated information pretexts to prepare Russian and foreign audiences for further escalation,' said the Ukrainian foreign intelligence statement.