Winter has not been cancelled.
asserted
Winter → cancel → ?
Russia is preparing another campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has said so openly.
asserted
Putin → prepare → infrastructure
“In response to strikes against Russia, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have been instructed to prepare and carry out massive strikes against Ukraine’s energy facilities,” Putin said, adding: “If they strike us, they will receive a response.”
For Ukrainians, this means preparing once again for blackouts, disrupted transport, and the loss of basic comforts as temperatures fall.
asserted
temperatures → instruct → comforts
But after years of war, Ukraine is no longer facing winter as it did in 2022.
asserted
it → face → 2022
An entire system of survival has developed, and Ukrainians have learned how to keep their cities going when the lights go out.
asserted
lights → develop → cities
Ukrainians should therefore prepare for continued attacks on their energy infrastructure.
asserted
Ukrainians → prepare → infrastructure
Putin has openly announced preparations for massive strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, calling them a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s fuel and energy infrastructure.
asserted
Putin → announce → infrastructure
And Russian forces are indeed increasingly targeting energy facilities and other infrastructure on which the normal life of Ukrainian cities depends.
asserted
life → target → cities
The United Nations has documented that during the winter of 2025-26, Russian forces systematically attacked electricity generation, transmission, and distribution facilities, often using hundreds of weapons in coordinated attacks; emergency blackouts at times affected millions of people.
asserted
blackouts → document → people
A complete blackout has so far been avoided.
asserted
blackout → avoid → ?
Equipment supplied to Ukraine by international partners, backup systems, and distributed generation all help, as does the fact that Ukrainian energy workers have learned to repair damage extremely quickly.
asserted
workers → supply → damage
But constant breakdowns that directly disrupt civilian life have become a normal part of reality in Ukraine.
asserted
that → disrupt → Ukraine
After strikes, urban electric transport may not run in the morning, suburban trains may stop, intercity trains may be delayed, sometimes for many hours, and during an air raid, passengers may be let off right in the middle of a field.
uncertain
passengers → run → field
Even in Kyiv, recent Russian strikes on energy and transport facilities have caused serious disruptions to the functioning of the city.
asserted
strikes → cause → city
In this way, Putin, seeking to inflict maximum suffering on Ukraine’s civilian population, is trying to compensate for his limited gains on the battlefield.
asserted
Putin → seek → battlefield
At the same time, Russian propaganda sometimes gets so far ahead of reality that the Kremlin has to correct itself.
asserted
Kremlin → get → itself
For example, in his statements about the settlement of Kozacha Lopan, near Kharkiv, Putin gave different distances to it, and later the Russian side claimed to have captured it.
asserted
side → give → it
This was not true — Ukrainian forces retained control of the settlement, while fighting continued in the area.
asserted
fighting → retain → area
Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation specifically refuted Putin’s claims that Kozacha Lopan had been captured.
uncertain
Lopan → refute → claims
But the Russians are not “fighting” only the Ukrainian army there.
asserted
Russians → fight → army
They are fighting the local population.
asserted
They → fight → population
Russian soldiers destroyed my acquaintance’s house with a tank.
asserted
soldiers → destroy → tank
I had previously helped relocate him within the Kharkiv region.
asserted
I → help → region
They killed his grandmother because she asked for water, and took away the grain that people were supposed to sow in the spring.
asserted
people → kill → spring
This reminds Ukrainians of another experience of Russia’s war against the peasantry: the Holodomor (Great Famine) of 1932-33, when the Soviet authorities confiscated food and condemned people to death by starvation.
asserted
authorities → remind → starvation
According to current demographic estimates by Ukrainian and American researchers, excess deaths from the famine in Ukraine amounted to about 3.9 million people, while the overall demographic losses, including unborn children, amounted to about 4.5 million.
uncertain
losses → accord → million
That is why a saying has remained among the Ukrainian population ever since: “Ukrainians survived the Holodomor, so they will survive this too.”
asserted
they → remain → this
But now we are talking about a war that has already entered its fifth year, and in particular about the coming winter, which Ukrainians will once again have to survive.
asserted
Ukrainians → talk → which
How are they preparing?
asserted
they → prepare → ?
What experience do they have?
asserted
they → have → experience
I remember how, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, all the food suddenly disappeared from shop shelves, people bought up the supplies, and then came the first blackout, followed by a second one that lasted more than a day.
asserted
that → remember → one
The curfew at that time lasted until 3 p.m., and I drove around Kharkiv with an assistant looking for flour to make bread for people and searching for a supplier willing to provide it.
asserted
I → last → it
Russian tanks were already on the outskirts of the city, including Saltivka, and we were risking our lives to obtain food that was both expensive and essential to people.
asserted
that → include → people
Meanwhile, displaced people whom we were trying to accommodate wherever we could stood outside with cups in their hands, queuing at a makeshift fire that someone had built from chairs, like in photographs from 1942, simply to have some hot tea.
uncertain
someone → displace → tea
Life became more or less normal again later, but that experience is not forgotten.
asserted
experience → become → ?
So when I am in the suburbs helping displaced people, I always tell homeowners who ask what to do with the trees they have cut down: This is your gold reserve for the winter, whatever energy assistance we may have.
uncertain
we → help → assistance
It cannot hurt.
asserted
It → hurt → ?
And I tell people about my grandmother, who survived two famines, in 1933 and 1947, saving only two of her eight children.
asserted
who → tell → children
For the rest of her life, until her death in the 1970s, she kept bags of dried bread in the pantry.
asserted
she → keep → pantry
They reminded her of the Holodomor, and at the same time, were ready to save the family from starvation once again.
asserted
They → remind → starvation
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
