Ukraine Braves Grueling Winter in the Cold and Dark, as Relentless Russian Strikes Take Power Generation and Energy Grid to the Brink

‘Hello, Darkness, my old friend.’

We have reported multiple times on the relentless combined air campaign by Russian forces that is targeting Ukraine’s power plants and energy grid, and leaving swaths of the population in the cold and dark during a grueling winter.

But now, we’ve come to the point where Kiev’s CHPP-5 (combined heat and power plant) and CHPP-6 can’t even be fully restored after a massive ballistic missile strike before the next one hits.

Lights have been out in much of Kiev and many other large cities, and there isn’t much room for improvement.

Simplicius on Substack:

“One of the most noteworthy aspects of the last strike on Kiev was the notable absence of any major air defense action. Video footage of only one ‘Patriot’ missile launching and self-destructing in the sky soon after emerged, but beyond this, Ukrainian defenses over Kiev appeared dismal compared to previous strikes, signifying a likely exhaustion of resources.”

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Trump Reportedly Says Ukraine’s Zelensky, and Not Russia’s Putin, Is Holding up the Peace Deal: REUTERS

Zelensky and his EU Globalists do what they can to impede peace, and cling to some non-starter proposals.

Ever since February 2025, in the infamous Oval Office heated on-camera argument between Donald J. Trump and Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky, it was clear that the US President knew that Ukraine didn’t have the cards, and should settle with Russia as fast as possible, lest they lose more and more territory.

The assessment proved totally correct.

We have been diligently reporting here on TGP on Trump’s peace push for the Russia-Ukraine war ever since before he was inaugurated.

But one aspect stood out: Zelensky didn’t negotiate like the losing party that he is, but rather as the golden boy of Globalism that he also is.

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EU official plotted to ‘organise resistance’ against Hungary’s Orban, files show

As the EU has sought to prolong the Ukraine proxy war, expropriate frozen Russian assets, and enlarge the bloc at any cost, Viktor Orban’s Hungary opposed it at every turn. Now, with his support teetering, leaked documents reveal a major EU official plotted a long-term covert campaign to oust him.

A senior EU official has been secretly seeking to remove Hungarian President Viktor Orban since at least 2019, according to leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone. The files show in January 2019, the International Coordinator for the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, Marton Benedek, authored a “project proposal” aimed at “developing a permanent coordination forum to organise resistance against the Orban regime.” In addition to his role at the European border control agency, Benedek currently heads Brussels’ “cooperation” with Libya.

Read Benedek’s anti-Orban project proposal here.

The impetus for Benedek’s plot was “an unprecedented set of anti-regime demonstrations in Hungary and among expat Hungarians” over controversial proposed legislation allowing businesses to compel employees to work overtime, and delay payment of their wages for an extended period. Thousands took to the streets before and after its implementation.

According to Benedek, outrage over what he referred to as “the slave law” had “compelled a small group of some 30 political, trade union and civic leaders to coordinate their activities, agree on a set of minimum objectives and funding principles, and jointly plan future action.” This had given birth to “an ad hoc coordination forum… which could develop, over time, into an incipient political coordinating body that could credibly challenge” Orban’s rule.

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Ukraine’s demographic collapse deepens as war wipes out generations

Ukraine has lost an entire generation in the four-year war with Russia and, if the conflict continues for another two years, it will lose another one.

The latest demographic data and international estimates highlight a huge hole that has appeared in Ukraine’s demographic pyramid at 25 years of age. The number of deaths in the war remains a closely guarded state secret, but the horrific losses Ukraine has suffered shows up clearly in the demographic data. Ukraine is in the midst of a long-term population collapse unprecedented in Europe outside wartime.

The results are worse than the same demographic dent that appeared in Russia’s demographic pyramid from the chaos of the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union when male life expectancy fell to a mere 56-years-old – but Ukraine’s war induced losses are far worse. A healthy population pyramid should be a triangle.

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Zelensky’s Ousting of Popular Intel Leaders Is Drawing Heavy Criticism – Kiev Leader Accused of Clearing the Field of Competitors Before Eventual Election

Is Zelensky getting rid of the competition?

While the eyes of the world are fixated on US moves in Venezuela or Greenland, and on the popular uprising in Iran, the war in Ukraine is unfolding, brutal as ever.

But, getting more exposure than the actual movements in the ground, with Russian forces making gains in the southern Zaporozhie region, it’s the internal machinations of the Kiev regime that is being talked about.

We have reported here on TGP about the removal of the two most powerful directors of intelligence in Ukraine: SBU’s Vasily Malyuk and Kyrylo Budanov from the military intel agency GUR.

The two men were credited with successful operations and countless assassinations.

Their ousting is part of leader Volodymyr Zelensky’s largest intelligence reshuffle of the war.

But the reaction to the changes has been mixed at best.

The New York Times reported:

“Critics say the shake-up risks disrupting operations already underway and may have been made in part for political reasons.

’I see it as removing two competent leaders’, said Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, a former director of the SBU, Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency, and now a member of Parliament in the political opposition. ‘During the war, my suggestion would be to keep, not shake up, the leadership’. I see nothing good for the security of the country and for special operations.”

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Russia Repeats Long-Standing Objection To Any Deal That Puts NATO Troops in Ukraine

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday repeated its long-standing objection to troops from NATO countries deploying to Ukrainian territory as part of a potential future peace deal, as Ukraine and its Western backers continue to push the idea.

“The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns that the deployment of military units, military facilities, warehouses, and other infrastructure of Western countries on Ukrainian territory will be classified as foreign intervention, posing a direct threat to the security of not only Russia but also other European countries,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

“All such units and facilities will be considered legitimate combat targets of the Russian Armed Forces,” Zakharova added.

Her statement came after the UK and France signed a “declaration of intent” committing to lead a troop deployment to Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the declaration “paves the way for the legal framework, under which British, French and partner forces could operate on Ukrainian soil,” though the document is lacking in details on what the force would actually look like.

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Ukrainian strikes have left 550,000 without power in western Russia – governor

Ukrainian strikes have caused massive power outages in Russia’s western region of Belgorod.

Belgorod, a city of 330,000 people, has frequently been targeted by Ukrainian drones and rockets since the armed conflict between Moscow and Kiev began in 2022.

The regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Friday that an overnight missile strike had caused “serious damage” to an unspecified infrastructure site. He added that there were no casualties and that first responders were at the scene.

Gladkov later said in a video message on his Telegram channel that as of 6am local time, outages were affecting 556,000 people across six municipalities. He added that around 2,000 apartment buildings had lost heating and nearly 200,000 people were without running water in their homes.

Belgorod’s temperature on Friday morning was around 2 °C (36 °F) and is expected to drop to −5 °C (23 °F) over the weekend.

Telegram news channels reported that air raid sirens were activated, followed shortly by a loud explosion. According to reports, a power plant may have been hit. 

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Witkoff: Significant Progress Made on Security Guarantees for Ukraine

Following talks with European and Ukrainian leaders, President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, said significant progress had been made in establishing security guarantees and a “prosperity agreement” for Ukraine. 

On Tuesday, Witkoff and Ukrainian President Zelensky met with the “Coalition of the Willing” to discuss the war in Ukraine. “We have made significant progress on several critical workstreams, including our bilateral security guarantee framework and a prosperity plan,” Witkoff wrote on X after the summit. “We agree with the Coalition that durable security guarantees and robust prosperity commitments are essential to a lasting peace in the Ukraine and we will continue to work together on this effort.”

At a press conference, Witkoff said the prosperity agreement would involve BlackRock and that he is working with the firm’s CEO, Larry Fink. 

The Coalition of the Willing is a bloc of European nations led by the UK, France, and Germany, with the goal of supporting Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday’s meeting resulted in a “significant step” towards ending the war in Ukraine. 

During the summit, Kiev, Paris, and London signed an agreement to send troops and weapons to Ukraine after a ceasefire is established. The Coalition of the Willing said the deployment will receive support from the US. 

“Military officials from France, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine worked in detail on force deployment, numbers, specific types of weapons, and the components of the Armed Forces required and able to operate effectively,” Zelensky wrote on X. “We had very substantive discussions with the American side on monitoring — to ensure there are no violations of peace. The United States is ready to work on this.”

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Canada-born descendant of Nazi collaborator quits posts to advise Ukraine

Chrystia Freeland has announced she will resign from her posts in Canada to become an economic advisor to Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.

Freeland, a descendant of a Nazi collaborator and a leading figure in Canadian politics, was appointed by Zelensky on Monday. He praised Freeland as “an expert” in economy and finance.

Confirming the appointment on X, Freeland stated that her contributions to Kiev would be “voluntary” and “unpaid.” 

“I will be stepping aside from my role as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine. In the coming weeks I will also leave my seat in Parliament,” she wrote on Monday.

One of the most prominent figures in Canadian politics for over a decade, Freeland has held ministerial positions in international trade, foreign affairs, and finance. In September, she resigned as Canada’s minister of transport to become Ottawa’s special representative for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Freeland, however, has a controversial family history. Archival evidence and research show her maternal grandfather was editor-in-chief of a Ukrainian-language newspaper in occupied Poland and Austria that published Nazi propaganda during World War II. Freeland has long rejected knowledge of these facts, claiming they were Russian disinformation.

In 2023, Freeland was among the Canadian parliamentarians who gave a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, a former member of the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, during Zelensky’s visit to Ottawa. The incident sparked widespread outrage in Canada and abroad, forcing the government to issue an official apology.

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Zelensky To Dismiss Security Service Head Malyuk, Responsible for Kiev’s High-Profile Assassinations: REPORT

MSM treats Kiev’s assassinations like the most normal thing in the world.

As Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky continues with his reshuffle of his administration, he will, once again, move one of his top intel people around – in this case, reportedly dismissing him.

After appointing top spy Kyrylo Budanov as his new chief of staff, today it arises that Zelensky means to remove Vasyl Malyuk as head of the infamous Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the state’s top counterintelligence agency.

Politico reported:

“The reshuffle has already seen two other top spies — Kyrylo Budanov and Oleh Ivashchenko — shifted to other responsibilities. Budanov has agreed to head the president’s office, while Ivashchenko will be chief of the HUR military intelligence service.”

But there’s a catch: Malyuk is reportedly attempting to retain his current post.

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