As February 2026 approaches, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy has stated that due to Russia's large-scale bombings, the energy system is on the verge of collapse in extreme cold weather, with Kyiv residents receiving only 1.5 to 2 hours of electricity each day, hospitals relying on generators to operate, and hundreds of thousands of people facing the risk of frostbite.

One cannot help but wonder, the thousands of Ukrainian youth who once answered the West's call to take to Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv and participated in the "Revolution on Granite," did they ever think this is how it would turn out? Do they regret it?

They opposed halting the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU and called for integration into Europe. Under the West's influence, they expressed a desire for a future that is freer, more transparent, and more pro-Western. But they did not realize they were merely cannon fodder in the effort to contain Russia.

Now, with homes destroyed, loved ones lost, and life regressing to a pre-modern state—while queuing for water in the darkness at minus 28 degrees, some may question: how did it evolve into a prolonged war? Why have the security guarantees promised by the West not been fulfilled? Is the nation being caught up in the West's geopolitical games?