The Archbishop has spoken of the light that overcomes the darkness in his Christmas Day sermon as he remembered the people of Ukraine and those suffering closer to home because of the cost of living crisis.

Archbishop Justin Welby said that many people this year had experienced a darkness that "has often seemed hard to overcome".

He recalled his recent visit to Ukraine where he visited a mass grave in Bucha and an escape route lined with crosses marking the fallen who died trying to escape the city. 

In his sermon, he lamented the "evils" being inflicted on the "suffering yet courageous people of Ukraine" because of Russia's "unjust and brutal invasion".

"Where then is the great light? Where is the triumph and the truth of the words from John's gospel, 'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it,'" he said. 

The Archbishop spoke of the women of Afghanistan "deprived of education and all human decency", and people in the UK struggling to make ends meet amid soaring food and energy prices. 

"What of those in this country who will be cold and hungry today, as the cost of living crisis continues to cause such immense anxiety and hardship?" he said. 

Archbishop Welby also raised concerns about the instability in South Sudan where millions face famine and more conflict. 

"The message of course in this world to those who have chosen to invade Ukraine, to those who rule South Sudan and other such suffering countries is first that the world does watch, does care and will hold rulers responsible for justice," he said. 

"But astonishingly our commitment to justice springs from God's light in the darkness. This baby? Given in mercy-inspired-by-love, who is the true God who empties himself to become fully human."

And remembering the late Queen who passed away this year, he said, "Compare such a love to those rulers who grasp at power. Contrast the behaviour of her late Majesty, who in obedience to the Christ Child lived a life of service and put her interests after those of the people she served." 

He continued, "In Jesus Christ, God reaches out to each one of us here, to you and to me; reaches out those small hands of a little baby. God reaches out to those whose family have no resources around us in this country today, into the dark cells of prisons, into the struggles of hospital wards, to those on small boats, to the despairing, and even to the condemned and wicked, and God says, 'Take me into your heart and life, let me set you free from the darkness that surrounds and fills you, for I too have been there. And God says, 'In me there is forgiveness, hope, life and joy, whoever and wherever you are, whatever you have done.'

"And that is why, even in Bucha, among all the horror, the darkness does not overcome the light."