This is brutal and predictable. When you turn energy into a weapon, civilians always lose first, and now both sides are paying for a war Moscow started and then badly mismanaged. Putin’s manpower and logistics failures are obvious when the Kremlin has to lean on strikes rather than frontline control, but that doesn’t excuse the mounting human cost.

Ukraine has every right to degrade Russia’s ability to wage war, but we need urgent investment in air defenses, hardened grid infrastructure, and humanitarian relief before winter makes this catastrophe far worse. If the West wants to stop cycles like this, it has to stop dithering and back Ukraine decisively now.