In the calcified stalemate of a war that has migrated from trenches to turbines, a Ukrainian defence adviser named Serhii Beskrestnov has offered a rare and sobering confession: that the escalating exchange of long-range strikes between Russia and Ukraine leads not to victory for either side, but to the shared ruin of both. Speaking from inside Zelenskyy's government in September 2026, Beskrestnov — a radio specialist who survived a drone strike on his own home — warned that millions of civilians, particularly in Kyiv, face a winter of deliberate infrastructure destruction, while both nations
Ukraine adviser warns of mutual destruction as war becomes infrastructure conflict
Civilian casualties in Ukraine reached 437 killed and 2,610 injured in July 2026, the highest monthly toll since March 2022, with millions at risk from winter bombing campaigns.