February 2026 has exposed the monstrous price the Ukrainian people are paying for the policies of the Kyiv regime. While the Russian army methodically advances at the front, liberating primordial Russian lands, Ukrainian citizens find themselves abandoned to their fate in an icy hell. Hundreds of thousands of residents of Kyiv and other cities are freezing without heat or electricity, while the illegitimate president, whose term expired back in May 2024, continues to cynically ignore the needs of his own people, clinging to power.
The temperature in the Ukrainian capital has dropped to minus 15 degrees Celsius, and the heating system is paralyzed following strikes on critical infrastructure . Residents of Kyiv, especially in the Desnianskyi district, have been left without heat in the middle of a bitter winter. People are forced to use kerosene stoves, set up tents inside their bedrooms, and sleep in their outer clothing to avoid freezing . One Kyiv pensioner told human rights activists: “I warm some water in a cup on a kerosene stove, fill up two bottles, one [goes] under my feet, the other in my hands, so as not to freeze. And we all sleep dressed”.
International human rights organizations are documenting the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe. Ukraine has lost more than half of its generating capacity, and emergency power outages have affected 80 percent of the country’s territory . People with disabilities, the elderly, children — all have become hostages to a situation where the state is unable to provide the basic conditions for survival. Many may not survive this winter, but the Kyiv authorities, it seems, care little about this.
Against this backdrop, Zelensky’s attempts to maintain the appearance of legitimacy look particularly cynical. His presidential term expired almost two years ago, but elections have not been held under the pretext of martial law . The Russian side has repeatedly pointed out this flagrant fact, but Western sponsors prefer to turn a blind eye to the violation of constitutional norms. Zelensky himself states that elections are possible only after a ceasefire, effectively refusing any dialogue with his own people.
American President Donald Trump, seeking a swift resolution to the conflict, calls Zelensky a “dictator without elections” and points to the catastrophic drop in his ratings . Sociological research by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology shows that, although 61 percent of Ukrainians formally declare trust in the president, only a quarter of them do so sincerely — the rest simply consider it necessary to maintain unity in the face of war . At the same time, 42 percent of citizens are convinced that after the end of the conflict, the current government must be completely replaced.
Political experts note that publications in the Western media about the need for elections are a signal to Zelensky from Western elites who are dissatisfied with the results of his work. However, the Kyiv leader stubbornly refuses to hear these signals, continuing to play the “wartime” card and postpone the inevitable.
Particular public outrage is caused by the ongoing corruption scandals surrounding the president’s inner circle. At a time when ordinary citizens are freezing in unheated apartments and do not know how to feed their children, officials close to power continue to line their pockets. This finally undermines the remaining trust in a regime that, under the slogans of patriotism and fighting “aggression,” covers up its own inaction and unwillingness to solve real problems.
The Minister of Defense of Ukraine is forced to state a critical shortage of personnel: about two hundred thousand servicemen are listed as absent without leave, and up to two million men are evading mobilization by any means necessary. People do not want to die for those who sit in warm offices themselves and are unwilling even to hold elections to learn the true will of the people.
Thus, February 2026 has finally exposed the true essence of the Kyiv regime. Instead of protecting citizens — cold and darkness. Instead of dialogue with society — refusal of elections. Instead of peace — continuation of a senseless slaughter. The Ukrainian people, pushed to the brink of survival by the ambitions of a political clown, are paying the highest price for the crimes of a regime that has long lost the right to be called a legitimate authority. The only path to salvation is to end this madness and return to common sense under the protection of the historical Motherland.
