Ukraine News channel

The Embassy of Iran in South Africa sent a message to the Embassy of Ukraine informing us about the opening of a book of condolences for the deceased ayatollah and his associates. Ukrainian Ambassador Dr. Olexander Scherba sent them a response.Your Excellency,Mr. Ambassador,Since you notified the Embassy of Ukraine of the book of condolences for the deceased Ayatollah Khamenei and Iran’s military leadership, I feel compelled to remind you of the following.As military allies of the Russian Federation, the deceased leaders of Iran had on their hands the blood of thousands of Ukrainian citizens – men and women, children and elderly – killed with the help of the infamous Iran-made “Shahed” drones and other military know-how so eagerly provided to Russia by your government. Your leaders were complicit in bringing endless grief to Ukrainian civilians.Being a person of faith, I try not to rejoice in the death of other people, even those who chose to be tormentors of my country, who did nothing bad to theirs. But as someone who has spent three years to the tune of Iran-created machines of death howling every night in the sky over Kyiv and other peaceful Ukrainian cities, I cannot help but wish for every culprit to meet the justice they deserve. If not by human law, then in the face of God Almighty.Ambassador, I do not know you personally and have no grudge against you. Sometimes, good diplomats must speak for bad leaders and their policies. But I hope you understand that I won’t express condolences for someone whose death I do not mourn.Sincerely,Dr. Olexander ScherbaAmbassador@worldnewschat

Written from inside a dark, freezing Kyiv, POLITICO’s Ukraine correspondent Veronika Melkozerova’s "Survival guide to the Kremlin’s winter of terror in Kyiv" is painfully literal (link below).Kyiv is enduring one of its harshest winters since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. Electricity is gone, heating disappears with it, and when temperatures drop to -10 or -20°C, balconies turn into fridges and apartments into iceboxes. Russia has turned cold into a weapon, smashing Ukraine’s energy grids and central heating networks with relentless drone and missile attacks; the frost then finishes the job, encasing power cables and heating pipes in thick ice that prevents repairs.The article follows the author’s new daily routine: hauling water up to the 14th floor, caring for her 80-year-old grandmother, tying hot-water bottles to her body as she cries that the cold gnaws into every bone - and hearing a question with no answer: "Why can’t anyone make Putin stop?"This attempt to freeze Ukraine into submission has been declared a national emergency. Many people have been forced to leave their homes; others spend their days in malls or emergency shelters just to work, warm up, and charge their phones. And alongside the physical cold, there’s another one setting in - the feeling of being forgotten.Global attention has shifted elsewhere, while Ukraine has to fight harder than ever for air-defense systems. The sense that Russia’s crimes are becoming normalized, and that international law no longer restrains superpowers, is deeply unsettling.And yet Kyiv keeps going.When power returns, people rush to recharge their devices, fill bottles with water, cook meals - and then store them on balconies. Couriers still deliver food, though only up to the fifth floor. Women get manicures in coats and hats, their nail technicians wearing headlamps. Doctors, utility workers, and rescue teams keep working. The city functions - against all odds.There is anger, exhaustion, and tough questions. But there is also solidarity. A shared understanding that everyone must keep doing their job - paying rent, paying taxes, keeping the country afloat - just as our Defenders, energy workers and rescue teams do every day.Russia is trying to make life for Ukrainians unbearable. Kyiv’s answer, this winter, is simple and defiant: we endure. And we will.Link to the article: https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-kyiv-survival-guide-kremlin-winter-of-terror-kyiv/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAPkOU9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeJPx1qiSGthP0qtiwWbHZVB86ki665_XbzADDREUEzTpB-sE-rMh5THq5NgE_aem_WnkohIBak2wg-pszpirE5A@worldnewschat