Millions of people in Ukraine are facing darkness and cold this winter. From now on, many will have 14-16 hours a day without electricity or heat.
In November 2025, large parts of power generation infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed, as has a fifth of heating capacity. 
The light has gone out in Kyiv. One of the largest cities in Europe sits in darkness during the night and without power during the day. Imagine this happening in Toronto or Edmonton or Montreal.
Generators are used to keep businesses and churches open. People still need coffee and church.
Kira is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament
On November 14, 2025, civilians in Kyiv were hit by the worst attack of the war. I’ve written “worst attack” a number of time in the past four months but the reality is the destruction is getting worse. There are many words spoken by Western leaders but negligible action. 
Pokrovsk
When Jocelyn and I were in Ukraine this past summer, she went further east near the frontlines than any Canadian woman since the start of the war. On the map below you can see the city of Izyum. We were there and went further east and south towards Lyman. It was a hot spot then and even more now.
President Zelenskyy reports Ukrainian forces are holding their positions around Pokrovsk and Dobropillia, a town to the north.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russia was concentrating about 150,000 troops on a drive to capture Pokrovsk, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk” and in Russia’s sights for more than a year as it pushes to control the whole eastern Donetsk region. Ukrainian soldiers are out numbered 8:1.
Pokrovsk, November 2025
Yaraslova in Dnipro
“I couldn’t understand how much concrete was above me.” Yaroslava is a young woman who survived a Russian strike on Dnipro. a central Ukrainian city. Jocelyn and I were in Dnipro this summer. We have many friends there. Yara’s story is like so many Ukrainians.
“I thought they’d never dig me out. I was running with my phone… and then the phone was gone. I couldn’t move.”
Her father and brother were also inside when the missile hit. Both were injured. Their apartment — gone. Nothing left but air, dust, and silence.
Imagine: you brew coffee in the morning, your children laugh on swings in the yard. And then — a whistle. An explosion. And silence. Not in a movie. In reality. Every day. For Ukrainians — even in the rear, like Dnipro or even NATO-bordering Lviv, Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk. Russians strike residential buildings, civilians, schools. Children who are simply playing. They want them to surrender. For fear to break them like concrete.
No Surrender
A Ukrainian writer asks, “But who will we become if we surrender to terrorists? Shadows? Slaves who never chose their fate, like our northern and eastern neighbours? No. Better to die fighting for freedom than to live on our knees. Because freedom is a constant choice, it is a continual possibility to live as we want. We cannot now and therefore we suffer, we want the war to end — but the loss of freedom is even worse than war. That is why we fight.
Foreigners, do you hear? Your peace is our dream. Value what you have! Do not turn everyday little inconveniences — which have no value in the long term — into problems or suffering. We must defeat Russia not at the negotiating table, but on the battlefield. Otherwise tomorrow the sirens will sound for you too. Help us win this war. Because Ukraine’s victory is the world’s victory over terror.”
The Kyiv Independent
The editor of the Kyiv Independent, a reliable source of info, wrote on Nov. 11th,
“The exhaustion of the war builds up, making every next year a harder one. But also, the news cycle was… something else. Donald Trump returned to the White House, and we had a whole new challenge: How to cover Trump’s chaotic peacemaking efforts on Ukraine and Russia in a way that cuts through the noise — and how to avoid the dangerous mistake of being completely led by him.
We had to quickly learn to separate his statements from actions, and not get excited on the days when Trump seemingly woke up pro-Ukrainian.”
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