Let me start my weekly blog by greeting you and wishing you well from the very heart of Kyiv!

I haven’t been home for a few very long years and thought I was informed and prepared. It took forever to reach Kyiv. I used to love travelling through Ukraine by rail as our countryside is absolutely gorgeous, but now I felt scared of what I might see just by peeking out of the window.

On Friday, when I landed in Poland and was waiting for my train to Kyiv, Russian terrorists rained missiles on Ukraine: 76 were fired from the sky and Azov and Black Seas. Though our unbelievable air defence forces managed to shield Ukrainians by shooting down 60 of them, still Putin’s terroristic organisations managed to once more heavily damage our critical infrastructure with the few that reached their goal.

Most of the missiles — 40 out of 76 — were aimed at our capital: the city they passionately hate as it represents everything they want to be, but aren’t. A city that stood tall, was cultured and developed when there were nothing but swamps on the territory currently known as Moscow.

Hatred

That’s the reason for a massive missile strike on Kyiv — pure hate based on nothing but Putin’s uneducated and uninformed personal view of world history.

Moreover, cities that border Russia or territories temporarily occupied by Putin’s terroristic organisation are also heavily shelled from the ground — not just the sky and the sea.

Kharkiv was under horrifying attack, suffering severe damage to vital city infrastructure. In a lot of big cities there was no light, no heating and no water. 

A lot of people were injured and a beautiful family with an almost two-year-old little boy was killed in the city of Kryviy Rih after an apartment block was hit by shelling.

And just a short moment later, another massive attack — this time by drones — was carried out on Sunday night. Kyiv experienced three large waves of Iran-made Shahid kamikaze drone strikes. There were 23 kamikaze drones lurking in the Kyiv night; 18 were taken out, but those that reached their target did severe damage.

These are current photos from Kyiv, with our firefighters fighting to save lives Putin is so desperately trying to destroy.

(Photo: Supplied)

(Photo: Supplied)

(Photo: Supplied)

(Photo: Supplied)

(Photo: Supplied)

Winter is here

I can’t quite grasp the mental state Ukrainians must be in — the winter is here, and the freezing cold makes it even harder for people to cope, though everyone seems to be up for the challenge.

It looks like “no negotiations with terrorists” is now our nation’s slogan. Ukrainians are willing to do whatever it takes to push this murderous horde across the border.

These widespread attacks have been happening since early October and disabled nearly half of our energy infrastructure just as the cold began to set in.

I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to report when I get back, but today I want to share an address by our President Volodymyr Zelensky to Ukrainians and to the whole civilised world about his proposed Global Peace Formula Summit this winter, that was blocked by Fifa before the World Cup final in Qatar:

President @ZelenskyyUa would have to call for peace before the final game @FIFAWorldCup. No politics, just the goal to reach billions of people with idea of Global Peace Formula Summit. Unfortunately, @FIFAcom refuses to show it. Hope its leadership still can make right decision. pic.twitter.com/vjU4sgI4kZ

— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) December 18, 2022

Please take care of yourselves, and a very merry Hanukkah to the Jewish community around the world!

Chag Hanukkah Sameach!

Glory to Ukraine! DM

Liubov Abravitova is the Ukrainian ambassador to SA.