288. When will Putin finally end this bloody war?

Around midnight, I received a painful message from a friend in Kyiv who is struggling to survive day to day. I couldn’t sleep after that. Her painful voice melted my heart. A brave lady, a professor. She starts her conversation with, Hi, from the capital of freedom.

Sometimes she spends days at her grandparents' house in a village far from the city because when she is in Kyiv, it feels chaotic and suffocating. 

In recent days, the Russians have been bombarding the capital with deadly drones, destroying homes and apartments. The war has become extremely dangerous, with no holds barred.

Two days ago, Russia launched at least 800 drones in a massive daytime barrage across about 20 regions of Ukraine. The strikes came after a brief ceasefire. Ukrainian monitors detected at least eight salvoes of Russian drones, including some entering from Belarus, with the apparent target being Kyiv’s critical infrastructure.

Again, early yesterday morning, Moscow launched another heavy bombardment, sending 675 drones and 56 missiles at Ukraine. My friend says these are officially issued data. Damage from debris was reported at 18 locations.

This was the deadliest attack, leaving at least 24 people dead in Kyiv. The city declared a day of mourning, and national flags were lowered to half-mast. Residents visited a makeshift memorial at the destroyed housing block, leaving flowers, stuffed animals, and sweets.

President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. At the time, no one anticipated the conflict would last for years. Approximately 1.3 million Russian soldiers are dead or wounded, and ordinary Russians are facing mounting economic hardship. Economic growth fell from 4.9% in 2024 to 1% in 2025 and is likely to remain at that level this year. 

I have seen the Kargil War and have distant memories of the Bangladesh War, when there was no electricity in my village. We were even asked not to light lanterns in the evenings for days, but I have never witnessed war firsthand. Only those who face it can best describe the trauma.

To the younger generation, war often seems like a video game played from the comfort of a cushy chair, with fingers on a remote. However, in reality, war cannot be fully explained; it must be experienced, either as a civilian or at the front, to be understood.

Small things like candles and a matchbox become as important as a bottle of water. Imagine living in a place where you receive air-raid alerts every hour on your phone and hear sirens blaring before a thud. My friend says her dog and cat start jumping around the house, and she hardly sleeps at night.

Now, everyone is tired of this pointless war that has caused the deaths of many civilians in addition to defense personnel.

Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s new government has summoned the Russian ambassador after a large drone attack near Hungary’s border. This marks a notable shift from the previous government's friendly stance toward Moscow. 

Latvia’s center-right prime minister, Evika Siliņa, has resigned over her government’s handling of Ukrainian drones that strayed into Latvian airspace from Russia. This brought down her coalition government months before the October elections.

Romania, Poland, and the Baltic states have had their airspace repeatedly breached by Russian drones, though Russia has denied targeting NATO states.

While Poland scrambled fighter jets, Slovakia closed its border with Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moldova reported that a Russian drone had entered its airspace.

Since March, numerous Ukrainian drones have strayed from Russia into Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Ukraine’s foreign minister said the intrusions were the result of Russian electronic warfare deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones from their targets in Russia. 

In Moscow, not all is well either. Russia celebrated its traditional Victory Day parade on May 9 to honor the sacrifices of soldiers and civilians during the four-year conflict against Nazi Germany. Watch the similarities across years!!

To prevent Ukraine’s ongoing drone attacks, Putin called Donald Trump and suggested a three-day ceasefire from May 9, aiming to avoid the shame of a Ukrainian assault on Red Square. 

The government has imposed restrictions on publishing images and videos showing the aftermath of an attack, including drone strikes. The official explanation is that the restrictions are intended to prevent the dissemination of unreliable information, and the media can carry only what appears on the Defense Ministry's websites.

I believe the conflict Putin expected as his greatest victory might actually become his biggest failure.

I am concerned for my friend's safety; nothing should happen to her. She has already suffered a loss, having lost her husband, an air force pilot, during the first month of the conflict. 

I tend to be very pessimistic about the world, and nothing lifts my spirits, especially news of scientific breakthroughs, because deep down I believe they might someday be used to harm humanity.