That's Life

In the last week, the full and high-quality functioning of the invincibility points has again become more than relevant, if not to say — a matter of life and death. Let’s avoid excessive hyperbolization and unnecessary tragedy, but objectively — millions of people were left without electricity and heat in cold winter weather for a fairly long period of time. So here it really is no joke. The latest hostile attacks on energy and other critical infrastructure have plunged the million-strong cities of Kyiv (partly) and Dnipro into darkness, as well as such large industrial centers as Zaporizhia and Kryvyi Rih. This also applies to many other settlements in the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia regions and beyond. Unfortunately, with sub-zero temperatures, a significant part of the residents of these regions (mainly Kyiv and the Kyiv region) were also deprived of heat and water. And while the water supply was restored quickly, in some places they are still fighting to restore full-fledged energy and heat supply. We almost thought that as of today, the situation had basically stabilized. But at the moment we do not yet fully understand the future consequences of today’s new missile attack on Kyiv. At least, Bucha, Gostomel and Irpin, where the author lives, are also in a blackout. And we haven’t even mentioned how shortly before that, the residents of Odessa found themselves in a total blackout for at least a few days.

The New Year traditionally comes with legislative innovations that require adaptation to new rules, tax rates, and social contributions. We have collected the key changes for 2026 that affect every Ukrainian. We tell you about the new rules that Ukrainians need to learn to live by from now on.

One of the commentators mentioned a scene from The Lord of the Rings when the elves left Middle-earth and sailed to Valinor.