It’s -27°C out there, and the timing is brutal. The so-called "Energy Truce" is dead. Russia has shifted tactics, timing mass infrastructure strikes to hit exactly when the freeze is deep enough to burst urban water and heating systems permanently. It’s a "City-Kill" approach—freeze the pipes, kill the city.

To complicate things, an X-class solar flare peaked today. It degraded GPS and radio signals right when they were needed most. Russian aviation seems to be timing glide bomb runs to coincide with these electronic blackouts, hitting while air defense is technically half-blind. It feels like "negotiation by fire" ahead of the Abu Dhabi talks next week.

The situation in Kharkiv is what worries me the most. Authorities are actually draining residential heating pipes to prevent them from bursting in the cold. Think about that for a second—draining the heat when it's nearly thirty degrees below zero just to save the plumbing. That is a desperate move that confirms the local grid can't sustain "keep-warm" circulation anymore. On the ground, the Russian "Sever" Group has seized Zelenoye, expanding their footprint while the city freezes.

In the Pokrovsk sector, the Russians are pulling some nasty tricks. Assault groups are using captured M113 APCs to confuse Ukrainian defenders. They’re also deploying "Rubicon" fiber-optic drones. Since these things are hard-wired, electronic warfare jamming doesn't work on them.

Down in Zaporizhzhia, the front is bending. Pridorozhne fell to the Vostok Group, and they are pushing toward the highway. To top it off, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit the Sea of Azov today. I can’t imagine what that felt like for the guys sitting in the trenches.

Satellite data is showing a massive spike in activity at the 260th GRAU Arsenal, while most other depots have gone quiet. In intelligence terms, that "flatline" usually means the reload phase is over; the missiles are already on the trucks. We're also seeing "Kurier" ground robots—basically remote-controlled grenade launchers—clearing trenches so Russian infantry don't have to risk their necks.

I'm not buying the reports about the destroyed Leopard tank—that looks like propaganda to boost morale—but the intent to collapse the grid is undeniable. You don't drain pipes in Kharkiv unless you have zero other options. Moscow is trying to turn the lights out before the diplomats sit down. If the solar interference keeps blinding the radar, tonight is going to be ugly for the Kharkiv-Dnipro axis.