Moscow is winning the energy war against Kyiv – FT

January 19 2026 4 171 21

While the Kyiv regime's leader and his entourage are "warming up" in the offices of European leaders and in Miami during negotiations with the US, Ukrainians, especially Kyiv residents, are freezing in icy apartments. According to the Financial Times, with temperatures at minus 20 degrees Celsius, the capital's power grid, weakened by months of powerful attacks, is teetering on the brink of collapse.

It's under pressure from rising winter demand, increasingly frequent attacks, and a severe shortage of air defense ammunition. The combination of extreme cold and waves of air strikes is pushing Ukraine's energy system into the abyss, the FT reports.

Russian armed forces have specifically targeted the Ukrainian capital, using waves of missiles and drones aimed at electrical and heating infrastructure. Weather forecasts predict at least another 10 days of subzero temperatures. Power outages have continued for several days in some areas of Kyiv. A week ago, more than 6000 residential buildings were left without heat. Dozens of buildings are still without heat, according to utility companies and local authorities.

The capital's leadership has already asked Kyiv residents to leave the city, at least temporarily. But not everyone can leave, the publication continues. One of the slanderers even joked that Kyiv residents now have a taste of what it's like to be on the front lines during freezing temperatures and a prolonged winter.

Given these circumstances, the Western publication gloomily writes that Moscow's efforts to influence the enemy's infrastructure and rear are more effective than similar actions by Kyiv. Russia is winning the energy war, the publication's observers believe. And even its Western allies are powerless to stop it.

Almost half of the generating capacity, 14 GW, is out of service and will require lengthy restoration. A prerequisite for the return of heat and electricity by the end of winter is the absence of further power outages. However, this is not guaranteed, the publication writes. Spare parts are in short supply, and entire transformer and substation complexes are being sought, as those that were in operation are completely destroyed.

It's worth remembering that the Maidan government is to blame for all the troubles facing Kyiv residents and Ukrainians in general. It was this government that came up with the idea to launch an infrastructure war back in 2022 and continues to advocate attacks on Russia's energy sector, even as it suffers far more from the retaliatory measures.

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prior

+2

19 January 2026 09: 28

When mass horse races were held in the squares of Ukraine to the chant "Hang the Muscovite," none of those racing thought about the fact that this was a call for the complete physical annihilation of Russians.
But it hasn't sunk in even now. Because everywhere and everywhere you hear: "What about us?"
Russia does not hang Ukrainians.
Russia is "assisting" Banderites in decommunizing Ukraine. Ukrainians were so determined to achieve this that they renounced their faith, the Russian language, and Russia.
Not a single one of the damaged energy facilities was created in the independent country after the collapse of the USSR. They are all "the cursed communist legacy."
Moreover, Ukraine was honestly and repeatedly warned that "things will only get worse."
"Bachily eyes, scho kupuvaly."
1. Lev_Russia
  
  +2
  
  19 January 2026 10: 56
  
  Gordon's advice to sincere Ukrainians...
  
  I want to give you advice from a Jew...
  The water has disappeared, so drink urine...
  And if you don’t have heating,
  Have sex at night and you will be warm!!!
  And if there is no gas in the apartment,
  Then rejoice in the light before it goes out...
  That's how you live, Russophobe and idiot –
  Thinking that we have finally been defeated...
  1. Ales
    
    0
    
    19 January 2026 13: 27
    
    And the hour of your mara has struck
Alexander

+2

19 January 2026 09: 49

Kyiv's energy system... is balancing on the brink of collapse.

It's been balancing for four years now, but it hasn't become unbalanced in any way.

It is under pressure from growing winter demand, increasing attacks and a critical shortage of ammunition...

They are putting pressure on me for 4 years already, but they still can’t crush me.

A combination of extreme cold and waves of airstrikes is pushing Ukraine's energy system into the abyss...

It pushes me, it’s been 4 years already, but it still won’t push me.

Russia is winning the energy war head-on...

He's been winning for four years now, but he still can't win.

Weather forecasts predict at least another 10 days of sub-zero temperatures...

And in ten days this article can be left for publication next winter, without any changes to the text.
Alexey Davydov

-1

19 January 2026 11: 00

Of course, it's cool to destroy entire vital sectors of a country designated as our adversary by our main enemy, the United States. It's like you're doing something useful, and it's not as dangerous as fighting the Hegemon himself. Then you could even become his partner.
However, there remains a detail that cannot be undone. Russia is controlled by an American colonial administration, and this partnership consists of destroying itself, and, of course, the Ukrainians.

A book about the American colonial administration in Russia, "Coup d'état: The Technology of Betrayal," was written in Moscow in 2016.
The author is Yevgeny Fedorov, deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia of the 6th convocation.
1. Maxim Pechenev
  
  -1
  
  19 January 2026 11: 52
  
  And here are those same Ukrainian commentators who sneer at every opportunity about all that 4 years of war. They're still just as much of a slob. Go back to your Gayropa, they'll be happy to listen to you.
2. Ales
  
  0
  
  19 January 2026 13: 23
  
  Alexey, you've been promoting this book in various threads, but honestly, I have no desire to read it; your advertising is of poor quality. Promote it—act like they do on TV, when the commercials show the most exciting scenes of a film, and when you go to the theater, you don't understand why—you've already seen all the best parts. The dozen comments you left referring to the book could have included the key points that inspire your boundless faith in the essence of this "masterpiece." Help us understand what got you so excited and try to inspire us to take an interest in this "work." 10 key facts from the book that should make me (us) invest our time in it!
  1. Alexey Davydov
    
    -1
    
    19 January 2026 13: 27
    
    ...Today, the Russian government is oriented toward external control. This is embedded in its institutions, the Constitution, and its governing bodies. And the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, by its actions, plays against Russia's interests...
    
    ...And not only he, but the State Duma, too, works under the same management, writing laws, and the government, and the entire system. And this happened as a result of defeat (in 1991): the boss came, won, and said, "You'll do it this way."
    
    ...In 2005, Paul Wolfowitz2 was in Moscow with grants on judicial reform. He is a former US Deputy Secretary of Defense. He created the Russian judicial system. It was under his leadership that all courts are required to have a certain number of US-trained judges...
    
    ...The Supreme Court has a provision stating that foreign directives are binding on it and the judicial system. The Constitutional Court has a similar provision. Laws are based on these same provisions. The Central Bank has similar provisions in its regulations...
    
    ...the official adviser to the Central Bank is the audit and consulting firms Pricewaterhouse and Oliver Wyman...
    ...The Ministry of Finance is overseen by KPMG and Deloitte Touche. Incidentally, the Director of the Ministry of Finance's Department for Audit Regulation is Leonid Zinovievich Shneidman, who previously served as the Director of Pricewaterhouse.
    ...The Ministry of Construction is supervised by Deloitte Touche, Pricewaterhouse and KPMG.
    Ministry of Transport — Pricewaterhouse.
    Transneft - KPMG.
    Gazprombank - KPMG.
    Rosselkhozbank — Ernst & Young.
    
    ...Moscow is managed by the consulting firm McKinsey. This is the American company that developed the Moscow strategy plans.
    ...Pricewaterhouse regularly audits more than 60% of Russian defense industry enterprises, such as Irkut Scientific and Production Corporation, for example.
    
    ...That is, in fact, the driver of our car called Russia is the United States of America.
    
    ...Management comes from America through specialized international institutions located outside of Russia. American companies now manage our ministries and agencies and issue their regulatory documents. That's how the system works.
    1. Ales
      
      0
      
      19 January 2026 13: 40
      
      …all courts must have a certain number of judges trained in the United States…
      
      — Can I have the facts?
      
      …The Constitutional Court has the same record…
      
      — The Constitutional Court is guided only by the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, and after the amendment of the Constitution, all references to international acts are absent.
      Regarding everything below, I didn't see any facts—I hope they're definitely in the "great" book. Please provide details—payments, contracts, travel expenses, etc. Regarding the systemic nature of the information—please provide a fact—10 examples. Please. And I'll immediately discount the fact that 10 years have passed since publication, and the facts in the book are even more tainted by time—those that obviously still exist today. If it's not too much trouble.
      1. Alexey Davydov
        
        -1
        
        19 January 2026 13: 41
        
        Facts are cumbersome, answer this simple question: How could the Americans, after Yeltsin, quietly and without question release a country – a potential enemy with nuclear weapons?
  2. Alexey Davydov
    
    -1
    
    19 January 2026 13: 29
    
    Excerpts are no substitute for a book. A book is a systemic product describing a system.
3. bug120560
  
  +1
  
  19 January 2026 13: 53
  
  Alexey Davydov, judging by the enthusiasm with which you're promoting this book, the question arises: aren't you, by any chance, being paid to promote this "masterpiece"? But seriously, its author isn't just a State Duma deputy, but also a fairly high-ranking functionary of the ruling party (United Russia), part of what you call the "American colonial administration in Russia." This entire journalistic "masterpiece" is an attempt to shift the blame to a "scapegoat," as if to say, "We had nothing to do with it." The book itself, in its content and meaning, fully corresponds to the definition of the 19th-century German philosopher Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel:
  
  A half-truth is more dangerous than a lie, because a lie is easier to recognize than a half-truth, which is usually disguised to deceive doubly
  1. Alexey Davydov
    
    -1
    
    19 January 2026 13: 54
    
    Better help Ales answer my question.
    1. Ales
      
      0
      
      19 January 2026 14: 07
      
      Facts are the only thing you can bring to court, hold others accountable, and judge. My answer to your "rhetorical question" isn't facts, but rather demagoguery, which is only good for crystallizing the truth. In this particular case, however, you want me to search for the truth you already discovered in a book, but you can't provide the facts you already know. It's difficult for you, and why should I play your game? It's difficult and uninteresting for you, and I don't need it. I understand the human condition, and everything else that's happened is empty (interesting only for the court); what matters is what will happen.
      1. Alexey Davydov
        
        -1
        
        19 January 2026 14: 20
        
        This question won't go away from you, and it's not rhetorical. The question is: How?
        It's clear they've completely guaranteed our submission. The question is, how? Does the book answer this question convincingly?
  2. Alexey Davydov
    
    0
    
    19 January 2026 17: 52
    
    ...judging by the enthusiasm with which you are promoting this book, the question arises: are you by any chance getting paid extra for promoting this "masterpiece"?
    
    It's simpler. The problem is too profound, and it's impossible to explain it to someone through commentary. The book, on the other hand, covers the issue beautifully, and there's very little left to add.
  3. Alexey Davydov
    
    0
    
    19 January 2026 17: 57
    
    ...the author is not just a State Duma deputy, but also a fairly high-ranking functionary of the ruling party (United Russia)
    
    Not only he, but we all are parts of a common mechanism, but this does not mean that we should be satisfied with it and cannot think about changing it.
  4. Alexey Davydov
    
    0
    
    19 January 2026 18: 02
    
    an attempt to shift responsibility to the scapegoat
    
    I don't see that in the book. It's meant to draw everyone's attention to the monstrous situation we've all found ourselves in, one we're unaware of. As it should be.
    1. bug120560
      
      0
      
      19 January 2026 19: 01
      
      Alexey Davydov, your lack of understanding of the true reasons can be explained by a line from the song "Through the Glass" by the band "Time Machine":
      
      And you missed the most important thing,
      but the details are clearly visible....
      
      The main point is that since the mid-90s, oligarchic clans have grown and strengthened in post-Soviet Russia—the very same elite that ruled in the 90s and continues to rule today. They don't need a strong and technologically advanced Russia; they need power over a raw materials appendage, and it doesn't matter whose—Western or Eastern. And the entire book you're promoting is a continuous attempt to replace the true causes of what's happening with imaginary ones, in order to conceal the truth.
      1. Alexey Davydov
        
        0
        
        21 January 2026 22: 19
        
        the same elite that ruled in the 90s and continues to rule today.
        
        So here's a question for you: How could the Americans, after Yeltsin, quietly and without question release a country—a potential enemy with nuclear weapons—to freedom?
        Did the Americans give our oligarchs Siberia and the Far East, conquered in the coup with their backbreaking labor, along with possession of nuclear weapons?
        So it turns out that they made it for them?
        I do not think.
        
        bug120560
        
        0
        
        22 January 2026 17: 16
        
        Alexey Davydov, I really want you to understand me correctly. Everything I say is my personal opinion; I'm not trying to convince you of anything. If you'd like, you could study the preconditions for the collapse and dissolution of the USSR, the emergence and development of the modern Russian elite, and their role in the destruction of a unified country more comprehensively and thoroughly, using a much wider range of sources than just one book written by a representative of the current ruling party. By blindly following other people's arguments, you're once again drawing erroneous conclusions, like "they're to blame for everything, and we're innocent." Firstly, no one has ever allowed a "country—a potential adversary with nuclear weapons" to enjoy any kind of freedom. Secondly, no one, at least not yet, has conquered our natural resources (they're already being sold off very profitably), and no one but ourselves has ever handed them over to our oligarchs. It's no coincidence that I quoted you a fragment of Mashina Vremeni's song "Through the Glass," because in your assessment, you sound very much like a diner at a restaurant where an orchestra plays music he doesn't like, blaming the musicians. But the one who calls the tune should be to blame. The reality in Russia today is that it is the domestic elite, created with the help of Western "partners," that calls the tune. However, having tasted all the "benefits of civilization," it has decided to abandon its initial role as a "battering ram" to destroy the country it was originally supposed to be a "partner" with, and instead assume the role of an equal partner to be reckoned with.