Today, January 27, marks the day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade.
Today, January 27, also marks the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Today, January 27, is the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust.
Russian propaganda has a particular fondness for these dates. They are always commemorated loudly and with great emphasis.
Above all, the liberation of Leningrad from the siege is highlighted.
The victims of a horrific tragedy are remembered, as is the heroism of the city’s residents.
Yet precisely today, many people are asking a very simple question:
how can those who consider themselves the heirs of the defenders of Leningrad and the liberators of Auschwitz wage such a brutal war against the civilian population of Ukraine?
Today, Ukrainian cities are freezing without electricity and heat.
Russian forces have deliberately destroyed Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the middle of winter.
As a result, millions of Ukrainians have been left in complete darkness, without power or heating.
As temperatures drop again, they are now also suffering from severe frost.
In Kyiv alone, as of Sunday evening, January 25, around 800,000 consumers were without electricity.
In Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia, and many other cities, the situation is similar.
More than 500 (!) towns and villages are without power in the Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv, Ternopil, Kirovohrad, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Sumy, Zhytomyr, and Kyiv regions.
For a moment, there was hope for warmer weather.
But in the coming days, Ukraine will again be hit by freezing temperatures, down to –20 degrees Celsius.
Imagine life without heat and light in twenty-degree frost.
With small children.
With the elderly.
With the sick.
Many people try to keep warm in their cars. There is no electricity or running water all day.
Even ballpoint pens stop working as the ink freezes.
In such conditions, even a healthy adult struggles to survive.
How is all this experienced today?
In the background are daily conversations with friends and relatives in Kyiv.
In the background are countless videos of a life that has already acquired its own name in Ukraine — Cold Death.
In this reality, how do Russian propaganda texts and reports about the heroism of the Great Patriotic War appear?
They do not tell history.
They attempt to serve as a justification for the horrors of today.
It is immoral.
It is despicable.
It is shameful.