KIEBO. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko yesterday warned the 3 million residents of the Ukrainian capital that they may have to leave as the race to fix electricity and gas networks in the face of Ukraine’s harsh winter will be fierce. After the October 8 Ukrainian attack on the Kerch Bridge, which was a direct challenge to Russian control over Crimean peninsula, Russia bombs Kyiv every Monday.

Yesterday was an exceptionally quiet Monday, with Ukrainians estimating that Russia had used up most of its stockpile of long-range Iskander missiles. But the effects of the bombing have so far been dramatic. Yesterday, the Ukrainian capital experienced another long-planned power outage as work continues to repair the grid infrastructure. “If you have relatives outside of Kyiv, where there is running water, a stove and heating, consider staying there for a while,” he said yesterday. Klitschko.

According to statements by Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko, in the next stage of hostilities, Ukraine is more concerned about the Iranian drones that Russia is assembling in Belarus. “They are cheap, they attack in droves, and they are very difficult to destroy,” the ambassador said, urging the international community to increase pressure on Iran. The government of Ukraine has announced the complete nationalization of five industries serving the military needs, while welcoming the arrival of a new type of anti-aircraft systems (NASAMS and Aspide) from the United States, Norway and Spain.

The US administration calls on Ukraine to show readiness for negotiations with Russia, at least in the eyes of the whole world.

At the same time, yesterday the Ukrainian government stressed that it does not intend to negotiate with Moscow unless the leadership of the Kremlin is replaced, as it does not believe that this makes sense. According to the newspaper Washington Post, the US administration calls on Kyiv to show readiness for negotiations, at least in front of the whole world. “The encouragement is not intended to push Ukraine to the negotiating table, but to help it maintain its moral high ground in the eyes of the world community,” the message says. These manipulations are dictated by the growing fatigue of public opinion and fears that it will intensify as the consequences of the energy war are felt in Western societies.

In any case, contacts that will pave the way for negotiations that will end the war are just around the corner. The only contacts that took place, according to the Wall Street Journal, concerned the prevention of an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was on the phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Patrushev and Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Usakov, according to a newspaper report that has not been denied by the White House. The purpose of the contacts was to have an open line of communication at the highest level to avoid any misunderstanding that could lead to an escalation.

The Kremlin did not comment on the report, as well as the information that Russian soldiers in civilian clothes moved into houses in the city of Kherson and are preparing traps for the Ukrainian military. Serbian President Vučić, who maintains a political balance between Russia and the West, compared the future Kherson battle with the Battle of Stalingrad. “Next winter will be even harder than this one, because we have ahead of us the decisive battle of the war, the Battle of Kherson, in which both sides will use thousands of tanks, aircraft and artillery. The West thinks it will destroy Russia, Russia thinks it will keep its original gains and end the war, and that will create more problems everywhere,” Vučić told Russian news agency TASS.