Russia, with its helpless gesture of terror, is letting us know it has lost. All that’s left is to leave as many corpses as possible. Their last resort is to intimidate the population. This terror is meant to help them. Will it actually succeed?
We all see the barbarity of Russia. Of course, in Poland, we also see the barbarity of Braun, Skalik, and other outcasts of the Polish nation. However, I don’t want to focus on them, but on the recent attacks.
Over the course of approximately 10 days, the Russians murdered at least 10 civilians. I say “minimum” because the casualties haven’t been fully counted yet. The number of wounded is much higher; it’s safe to say around 100 during this period. To illustrate what’s happening, I’ve created a table. It’s incomplete, based on what I’ve found in Ukrainian sources.
Summary of confirmed attacks (drones and missiles) — civilian targets/victims
| Date | City / Region | Attack type | Killed | The wounded | Description (civilian targets) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27/01/2026 | Kharkiv Oblast (passenger train) | Drone | 5 | an unspecified number of injured | Russian drone attack on passenger train; definitely civilian casualty — condemned as an act of terror by Zelensky. |
| 28/01/2026 | Kiev region | Rockets + drones | 2 | minutes. 4 | Attacks on civilian objects, including residential buildings. |
| 28/01/2026 | Odessa | Drones | 3 | ≥3 | The drone attack destroyed port and civilian infrastructure; the city declared a day of mourning. |
| 28/01/2026 | Crooked Rih | Rocket | 0 | 2 | Losses to civilian infrastructure; injured from shrapnel. |
| 28/01/2026 | Zaporizhzhia | Rockets / Drones | 0 | 4 | Attacks on civilian facilities, damage and power outages. |
| 26–27 January 2026 | Kharkov | Drones + missiles | unspecified | unspecified | Injured persons reported, daily attacks continue. |
| 17–18 January 2026 | several cities | Drones | 2 | unspecified | Massive drone attack; infrastructure destroyed, injured and killed. |
Civilian casualties always arouse objections.
Civilian casualties always generate natural opposition. A soldier won’t evoke the same sympathy as a murdered child or woman. It’s plain to see that Russia has completely shed its mask and decided to turn crime into an art of war. This isn’t the first time this has happened during this war. Just look at how they’ve acted before.
This intensification of terror against civilians first became visible on a mass scale in the spring of 2022. When the Russian offensive stalled and Ukrainian troops were gathering forces for a successful counterattack, when it was clear that the Russians were maintaining some order within their own ranks with the last of their strength, the decision was made to strike civilians. Not civilian “objects,” as this is an unjustified euphemism, but civilians.
The will to resist despite Russian crimes.
This was intended to break the will of resistance among the civilian population, who were en masse supporting their soldiers defending the cities and towns on the approaches to Kyiv and Kharkov. The terror that began for those within artillery range at the time affected the outermost districts of these cities and the towns surrounding them. Wherever the Russians occupied the land, they employed mass terror, murdering the local population. They had ready lists of those to arrest and murder. Bucha, Irpin, and other cities became arenas of suffering for those suspected of even supporting their homeland.
However, Ukrainians expected this last, this is what they expected. They already had experience at the beginning of the war in 2014. There, the Russians behaved similarly. Many people disappeared without a trace. They vanished into torture chambers. Never to emerge alive. The Russians murdered prisoners of war, a fact documented by the murderers themselves filming the scenes. In the later years of the war, many criminals were eliminated by Ukrainian intelligence – one of the most effective in the world.
Russians always murder those they call “brothers”
But Ukrainians didn’t expect open artillery and rocket attacks on civilian buildings, nor did they expect deliberate bombing of cities and gathering places. Indeed, the Russians did this in the Donbas between 2014 and 2022, but this was attributed to the large number of bandits in the volunteer formations. A more civilized form of combat was expected from the regular army. This was especially true since, in the official narrative, Russian propaganda referred to Ukrainians, however pathetic that may be, as brothers.
Back then, in March 2022, I wrote publicly that the Russians had lost by launching a campaign against civilians. They lost and murdered out of calculation, clinging like a drunk to the possibility of breaking the spirit of Ukrainian society through total murder. This was soon confirmed; we could watch the Russian “troops” retreating across their country’s borders. They left behind piles of corpses everywhere, and looted and devastated apartments and houses. Where they were quartered, the worst were the worst. Stolen washing machines and toilet bowls became symbols of the Russian occupation. It was a vivid recollection of my grandmother’s stories from Lviv, of how the primitive Bolsheviks entered the city.
Once again, it is clear that this is the end of the unsuccessful Russian offensive.
Now, in 2026, it’s a similar story. Since they resumed total terror against the population, which, after all, gives the Ukrainian army a respite, they’ve lost. This part of the winter campaign is already lost. They’re trying to increase the meager results with terror. Interestingly, they’re having the opposite effect. The Ukrainians are strengthening their will to resist. Moreover, thanks to the respite the Ukrainian army is receiving, it can reorganize more effectively. It can replenish supplies and create more effective barriers. This is the beginning of the end of this Russian offensive.
Burning passenger train attacked by Russian drones.
Sources: https://www.pravda.com.ua/ , https://hromadske.ua/ , PAP, Reuters.
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