This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler The Winter War — How Ukraine is facing Russia’s cruelty
Feb 5, 2026
Oz Katerji, Kyiv-based conflict reporter who provides on-the-ground analysis of the war in Ukraine. He describes life in an Arctic winter with damaged power infrastructure. He explains which household services still work and unequal impacts across the city. He discusses morale under terror bombing, slipping global attention, winter frontlines, and prospects for spring offensives and negotiations.
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Freezing Nights, Broken Heating
- Oz Katerji describes Kyiv facing minus-24°C nights while electricity and heating are intermittently out due to Russian strikes.
- He says elderly and frail people already risk freezing to death and public shelters are the only immediate relief.
A Journalist's Everyday Cold Reality
- Oz explains his own flat has limited central heating and he runs lights from a battery and the internet from his phone while some districts have no power or water for days.
- He contrasts living in central Kyiv with outskirts where conditions are much worse and evacuation to Lviv has occurred.
Send Generators To Prevent Deaths
- Oz urges Western countries to dig into reserves and send generators and equipment urgently to alleviate civilian suffering.
- He highlights Poland's rapid shipment of hundreds of generators as a model other countries could replicate.