Four years have now passed since Russia attacked Ukraine, yet this anniversary, too, was marked not by negotiations at the table but by Russian drone strikes. Although the years have gone by quickly, the deepening of the war has slowed political processes and pushed the parties further and further away from any framework for peace. The cold and freezing winter months have put Kyiv to a harder test, even creating additional moments of tension with countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine now finds itself face-to-face with Russia’s relentless and ruthless attacks, and, deprived of energy supplies, the authorities in Kyiv are searching for alternative solutions.

The war in Ukraine has entered a bitter and revealing phase. It is because of Russia's intensive missile strikes in Kyiv while temperatures plunge to minus twenty-two degrees. More than half a million people in the capital have been left without electricity. Odesa and Kharkiv have endured repeated bombardment. The Kremlin has made clear that it views the energy grid not as civilian infrastructure but as a legitimate instrument of coercion. In this freezing winter, darkness itself has become a weapon.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists there has been no pause in the aerial assault, despite talks brokered by Washington and held in Geneva last week. Moscow’s demand that Ukraine surrender territory in the Donbas region remains unchanged. For Kyiv, such concessions would amount to national capitulation.........

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