Each new blackout is worse than the previous one. Somehow, in the winter of 2023 or 2024, things never reached this level of disaster. And this is despite the fact that the number of drones and missiles hitting us has not increased.
For example, on the night of July 9, 2025, Ukraine was hit by 741 UAVs in a single night.
Exactly six months later, on January 9, 2026, Kyiv faced almost three times fewer — 278 Shahed drones.
So why were there no major problems in July, but in January Kyiv is balancing on the edge of a humanitarian catastrophe, with the mayor even urging residents to leave the city?
Something does not add up in this equation. Russia is bombing roughly the same way, hitting the same types of targets — yet the consequences are now dramatically worse. Logically, it should be the opposite: after studying previous attacks, their effects should have been prevented, or at least minimized, making further strikes pointless.
What happened over these six months — and over the past four years — to air defense, energy protection systems, intelligence, or counterintelligence? What exactly did you screw up this time?
But what is even more infuriating is the total absence of communication. What is really happening at DTEK? Was something truly destroyed — or is it simply “too expensive” to fix? Maybe some “Uncle Vasya the electrician” got sick, and now the rest of you peasants can sit without light and heat and just endure it? Or maybe the new wave of dreamers keeps sending symbolic drones toward Moscow instead of building real protective infrastructure?
Officials explain nothing. “It’s none of your business.” And the so-called official statements are so contradictory that trusting them is nearly impossible.
As a result, people are left with the impression that everything was stolen, and whatever money remained was handed to a couple of incompetent addicts with two left hands — hence the unexplained “emergency outages” that suddenly last one, two, or even three days. All this while electricity tariffs are already fully European — comparable to Bulgaria or Norway.
And I genuinely do not understand why, after nearly four years of weekly bombings, substations still have not been properly protected. These are not massive nuclear power plants 150 meters tall. Is it really that hard to dig a 20-meter-deep pit, place one or two substations there, and cover them with reinforced concrete? Kyiv builds underground parking garages much deeper — and does so reliably. I may not be a specialist, but from an engineering standpoint, this does not look like an unsolvable task. Especially when you have four years and billions in Western aid.
But if you protect infrastructure properly once, you can’t keep stealing future “restoration” funds. And that is why the cycle remains stable and eternal: Russian strike → huge money for repairs → money stolen, protection not built → another strike → money written off as force majeure → new funding allocated. Bingo. The loop is closed. The same thing is “sold” endlessly. Properly protected substations would break this cycle entirely.
But no one profits from truly protected infrastructure. This way, everyone is happy: Russia is happy that half the country sits in darkness, and energy bosses are happy with constant new funding “for restoration.” They even get thanked when they manage to fix something.
The refusal of both the government and DTEK to explain the real situation breeds the worst theories. Uncertainty frightens more than the threat itself. Anger grows far faster when you are forced to suffer without explanation. And excuses like “it’s all because of Russian missile and drone strikes” stopped working long ago.
In my district, on January 9, electricity, water, and heating were available until midday the next day. Then everything was suddenly shut off for more than 24 hours. Now we get power for six hours — only at night. Half a million people were cut off without warning or explanation. Officials went silent. They froze communicatively — while we froze literally.
To those who voted for Zelenskyy: how do you like this version of “it won’t get worse”? Two days without electricity, heating, or water at minus 15°C — is this really “not worse”?
The “new” head of the Presidential Office holds meetings in full illumination with Yanukovych’s former cop, Tatarov — while the surrounding district sits without power for 20 hours. Half the country freezes without heating, while the president signs yet another set of meaningless papers from warm Cyprus. The government lives separately. The people live separately.
At the most difficult moment in Ukraine’s history, we ended up with the worst possible government: not just endlessly incompetent, but insanely greedy. One that sacrifices our lives for its corruption schemes. When caught red-handed, they openly send their cronies and stolen money to warm countries, while lying to our faces.
Russia bombs us relentlessly, but these people do not even think about stopping the theft from infrastructure protection — which is why the consequences get worse every time.
If anyone still hasn’t figured it out: all of this is a direct result of the 2019 election. “Barbecues in May,” “meeting in the middle,” absurd “peace summits,” countless “security agreements,” the promised “3,000 flamingos” to black out Moscow, and mythical gigawatts of power generation.
It’s all just a show for the poor. A lie. Pure deception. Smoke blown straight into our eyes.
And this will continue as long as we keep thanking these thugs for “restoring electricity.”
And as long as we allow them to rule us — and the country.
Tags: blackouts corruption EMPR.media energy crisis infrastructure failure kyiv Ukraine war impact
