Dnipro, Sunday 18 Jan, early evening.
Very cold in most of Ukraine, dropping to - 18 or so, with maxes around - 8. Has been like this for the past couple of weeks, and will be until at least the first week of Feb. Feb is normally the coldest month here, so it may get worse. Lots of snow in Dnipro, we have had a good 40-50 cm and as it's cold it has stuck around. The kids are loving it, their snowmen have lasted longer than any ever before, getting a change of clothes most days, and have even survived our guard dogs peeing on them every night.
Roads not being cleaned. In Dnipro we are now down to 6-7 hours of electricity a day, but even when it's working its 160-180 V only, rather than the 240 V we are used to. 2-3 hours in, 8-9 hours off.
Food prices are starting to rise, and shortages are being seen in the shops, mostly for imported goods. The terrible weather in the west has shut down the roads for trucks, and we don't have many trains operational at the moment, so freight is an issue i am guessing.
In Kiev the left bank is without power and water now for most of the day, and hundreds of burst water pipes which have iced up are creating serious havoc, necessitating all water turned off, not just heating.
When the conflict is finally over, it will take years to repair everything, even if there is the money to do it, which we all know there won't be.
Everyone is still waiting for the big Russian strike which will bring everything to blackness, everyone is preparing as best they can, but it's hard for the vast bulk of the population. Everyone who can is leaving apartments and moving back to family homes in villages or towns, but of course men can't, as they will be stopped and mobilised, and those who can and have, are now without jobs. A couple of the bigger supermarket chains in Kiev, Novus and Silpo are now closing supermarkets as power issues have made running them impossible. Theae shut-downs will intensify, Kiev will be depopulated, as Kharkiv is being now. Zaporoshnye is in crisis, power there is even worse than here in Dnipro, and the Russian advances continue.
I have a friend who drives with our evac team, and he has relocated back to Lvov where his family are as things are getting worse there also. I chatted with him, and he was involved in evacuating the airport after the strike last week by the Oreshnik. He says the main crater is 400 m wide, and 200 m deep, I pass it on only from his comment, as there has been NOTHING about it here in Ukraine at all, and I haven't seen it.
I believe we are close to the end now. I can't see Ukraine surviving for much more than a month to 6 weeks. I have heard nothing re the eu bond issue, and the government does not have the money to pay salaries and pensions for Jan even. No idea who will cough up given everything going on in the world now, my guess is no one. I know this from a man who is in a position to know.
The negotiators who are enroute to the usa are a sideshow, and will soon reveal trumps lies re Russia's agreement to a ceasefire if Ukraine withdraws from Donbass. Nobody here believes Russia will agree to stop the SMO, and no one believes Zelenksy is serious about agreeing to russias terms. We will just go around in another circle with Trump saying he is angry at Putin, that Russia is not serious about peace etc etc despite the fact Russia has made its demands known for the past 18 months, and no one has even come close to agreeing to them.
Anyhow, apart from that, all else here is fine, we are past half way through winter, we are well set up and capable of withstanding much worse than is being experienced at the moment, which is good, as I believe it will soon get much worse. Even as early as tonight.
