The tawdry routine of everyday misery of cold, darkness, and fear that grinds at the human soul: that is Vladimir Putin’s strategy of attacking civilians across Ukraine and could break the country’s will to fight on. But it’s unlikely.
Showers in darkness, a shave in cold water every morning, two small children who know the Russian president is trying to kill them, and dawn runs to a streetside stall for coffee and cocoa, the only morale booster for a new day. These are the routines of Kyiv residents like Oleksandr Merezhko. He knows he is lucky.
