Kyiv in darkness. Only a few apartments glow with light. The lack of electricity is not the worst part. The worst are the broken sewage systems and the cold.
I am not always sure who I am speaking to when I write about what is happening in Ukraine.
“Everyone already knows everything” — we learned this phrase about three years ago. People living in Ukraine right now hardly have the time or energy to read my posts. And those who live far away are simply tired of the war — tired of the news about shelling, death, and now the cold.
So why do I write?
The easiest answer would be: in hope of a miracle. But I have long been an adult, and I no longer believe in miracles.
I write so that the few who do read these texts and live through the horror of this war know they are not alone. That someone truly cares. If I were religious, I would say that people are praying for them.
Does it make things easier? No.
But we cannot remain silent.
“Kyiv is heading toward a humanitarian catastrophe,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko told The Times.
After Russian missile strikes, more than one million people in the city are without electricity. More than 4,000 apartment buildings are without heating.
Do you understand what this means in practice?
Right now, the temperature in Kyiv is minus 13 degrees Celsius. For days, people have been fighting for survival in brutal cold. In some buildings it is so cold that toilets cannot be used — the water has frozen inside the bowls. Icicles formed from condensation hang from windowsills.
Experts warn that unless water supply and sewage systems are quickly restored, the risk of disease spreading will rise sharply.
Valentin Stepanovych looks in astonishment at the chandelier — electricity was restored for three hours for the first time in a long while. He no longer believed there would be power this week, which is why his reaction is so strong. Valentin remembers the occupation of Kyiv during World War II, even though he was just a child then. He says that not even the Germans committed such atrocities as the Russians are committing now. He has seen a lot in his life — and nothing surprises him anymore.
The dark alleys of Kyiv.
Kyiv’s streets are dark.
“Like being in a forest,” a friend told me on the phone just moments ago.
“I have never seen anything like this,” another added.
And this is happening across all of Ukraine.
I know that terrible tragedies are unfolding all over the world and that people suffer everywhere. But we care most deeply about what is personally close to us.
Every day I hear how my loved ones are surviving in Ukraine, and I cannot shake the feeling that this is a nightmare I cannot wake up from.
Yet Ukrainians still find the strength to joke. They talk about sleeping in outdoor clothing and coping with everyday hardships.
I feel nothing but deep admiration for this strength of spirit.
At the same time, the Russian army continues to deliberately destroy the vital infrastructure of a vast European country —
exactly as Putin promised.