181. Some jarring notes from Kyiv
My regular readers know that I have a few friends in Ukraine and get a daily dose of horrible news. These firsthand accounts are true and sent by people on the ground.
As one of my friends writes, “Hey, it’s from the capital of freedom, which is freezing at -15°C today. But I was up early to visit my dentist. However, the realities of war are the same as they were yesterday.”
Another one writes that she is relying on power banks and generators, and “do you know cafes are still full even as air raid sirens are regular occurrences.”
She says that the latest Russian drone strike on a passenger train near a village in Kharkiv, a region in northeastern Ukraine, has resulted in five fatalities. Additionally, a drone strike on Odesa killed three people and injured 32, and caused substantial damage to an energy facility. Sub-zero temperatures and repeated airstrikes have slowed repair crews' efforts to restore heating and electricity.
Now this is too much. Just imagine you are traveling on a train, and suddenly a drone or a missile attacks the moving train! It is scary. The train had over 200 passengers, with 18 in the carriage that was hit.
One friend states that 710,000 Kyiv residents officially lack electricity and heating, but the actual figure is likely higher.
According to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has resulted in nearly 2 million military casualties—killed, wounded, or missing—across both countries.
Moscow’s forces have sustained with around 325,000 killed out of an estimated 1.2 million casualties since the war started almost four years ago. But Russian losses are still a tightly held state secret.
The BBC’s Russian service, relying on publicly available data, has reported that over 163,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four years of war.
Ukrainian forces have also suffered substantial losses—approximately 500,000 to 600,000 casualties, with 100,000 to 140,000 of these being fatalities—between February 2022 and December 2025.
UN monitors report nearly 15,000 verified civilian deaths since 2022, but the actual total is likely much higher.
Last February, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that nearly 46,000 Ukrainian troops had been lost since 2022, with tens of thousands missing or captured.
Poland’s foreign minister has asked Elon Musk to revoke Russia’s access to Starlink satellite internet, as the Russian military relies on Starlink satellites to direct drone strikes deep into Ukraine. The Russian army has obtained terminals through third countries rather than through any official contract with Musk.
There is no clarity regarding ongoing diplomacy. Secondly, in such situations, these attacks particularly undermine the efforts of partners working to end the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that a US security agreement for Ukraine is 100% ready for signing, following discussions with representatives from Ukraine, the US, and Russia, indicating some progress has been made. The security guarantees document would go to the US Congress and the Ukrainian parliament for ratification.
Zelenskyy has also highlighted Ukraine’s goal to join the European Union by 2027, describing it as an economic security guarantee.
But what my friends are asking for is not a guarantee, as that is a long process; they can't wait for electricity, heating, or a stop to the drones raining down on their homes.
All efforts should be directed toward achieving this goal first.