We’re approaching our breaking point

Due to harrowing conditions, The Counteroffensive’s Ukraine team is taking a week’s break to rest, spend time with family, and restore our strength.

Feb 09, 2026

Editor’s Note:

Our team continues reporting under freezing temperatures, power outages, and constant instability in Ukraine. Heat, electricity, and reliable internet are never guaranteed, but the work doesn’t stop.

Your subscription covers backup power and warm essentials. Internally, I’ve seen a surge of our team asking for mental health services. Your subscription covers that too.

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It’s hard to admit, but we’re exhausted, like so many other Ukrainians.

The year started off on an especially brutal note, with Russian attacks battering cities almost every night. The cold takes a particular toll on the body, increasing stress and exhaustion – and that’s even without considering the heating problems

With your permission, the Ukraine-based team at The Counteroffensive will take a break this week.

Tim is hard at working trying to commission a story from outside the country that we’ll run later in the week. And if there’s breaking news, we’ll jump into action.

We are sincerely grateful to our readers for their constant support, which allows us to continue working even in such circumstances.

Read on to see what our reporters say they’ll do with their week:

Myroslava, managing editor

*Me and my little boy in the Kyiv region, January 2026.*

Every time I get even the smallest break from work, I feel a kind of joy that’s almost childlike. A whole week off feels like a rare gift. Lately, I’ve been working so much that I hardly get to just be with my little son, not multitasking, not rushing, but truly just being present for every moment. I am not planning any trips or big events.

I just want to spend quiet time with my family, which has become tough after I had to leave Kyiv while my husband needed to stay behind.

This rest comes with a quiet sadness; we’re not all together. Still, I want to fill these days with the smallest, most important things: playing with my son, hugging him, watching him learn to sit, stand, and eat on his own. These are our little daily victories. I also hope to see my parents in Kyiv, whom I don’t visit nearly as often as I’d like.

It won’t be an extraordinary week, but it will let me slow down and take a break from constant thoughts of work. Right now, that’s exactly what I need.

Mariana, creative editor

I’ll sound unhinged saying this, but I want to go back to my cold apartment in Kyiv.

For more than two weeks, I’ve stayed with my parents in the Volyn region because I felt I couldn’t cope on my own: my mental and physical health had deteriorated badly. I’m still dealing with heightened anxiety, depressive episodes, and the swing between emotional overload and complete numbness — all of which come and go whenever I feel I’m losing control. Now it seems like I’ve truly lost it.

I’m tired. It sounds to me like a failure, like a weakness I sometimes feel I’m not allowed to have. At the same time, I’m slowly learning to look for the smallest things that give meaning to living another day. I already ordered puzzles to my home address in Kyiv, bought concert tickets, and want to visit the theater. For the first time in a long while, the darkness has brought back my fear of being alone. This week, I want to feel at peace being by myself again.

Video: One evening, my parents and I watched my childhood videos after I arrived in my hometown, Kovel, in the Volyn region.

Nastia, reporter

I would like to view the news as simply a professional task. But news reports with dry statistics tell of the new reality facing everyone I’m close to. When I am safe, I still receive messages from my friends about how cold it is in Kyiv, that there was a nearby hit, or that they barely have power.

*Me with my mom Natalia and my cat Frosia. January 2026.*

You can’t separate yourself entirely from the experiences of other people that you’re covering either: each of them leaves another scar in your chest and drains you emotionally. I feel like I could use the break to restore my mental state.

This week, I want to do quiet things — reading, watching new television series or my favorite old ones, spending time with my sister, who isn’t going to school because of blackouts and the cold, and doing something creative — drawing or building small animal Lego sets. I haven’t allowed this for myself in a long time.

Tania, reporter

This winter, my favorite city in the world is plunging into darkness and cold due to Russian attacks. As a reporter, I serve as a quiet observer. But I am also a person who lives through the stories we talk about. Almost every day, I feel the cold creeping through two layers of sweaters and automatically scream in fear during another ballistic attack on the city, when even the foundations of our house seem to shake.

Now I am recovering from another depressive episode and returning to my studies at the university. The time we will get for ourselves will help me breathe a little, ground myself, start working on my thesis, and maybe even visit my hometown and my parents!

Sasha, reporter

I value my personal space and time, but at some point, lonely days in a small Kyiv apartment with no electricity and no heat became unbearable. I see this week off as a chance not to worry about my family in Zaporizhzhia from afar, but to spend some time with them, despite the danger. Also, I will use this time to work on my Master’s thesis – it’s high time to start!

*My laptop died, so I joined my evening classes using a smartphone. January 2026*

Oleksandra, reporter

I’m usually a busy bee, trying to keep up with my career goals, being a good mom, and generally working towards making my dreams come true. I’m in remission after cancer and battling severe depression, so routine and mental stability are essential for this whole system to work. But blackouts and constant cold throw me off my usual daily routine more than I’d care to admit.

I really appreciate the opportunity to stop and redirect my attention to myself, to focus on how I feel and what my current mental state is. A week seems like a short time, but for me it’s five extra days to relax with a cup of coffee, spend time with my child, or schedule a long-delayed doctor’s appointment.

*My daughter and I went to feed the ducks on the banks of the Dnipro river. January 2026.*

Oksana, reporter
For a person like me, whose nervous system craves certainty, power outages proved to be challenging. When the power outages are unpredictable, I begin to second guess every part of my day. “Should I go to sleep or wash my hair? Should I cook or go to sleep?” My inner dialogue starts to feel like a hyperactive roommate — always rushing somewhere and incapable of giving me time to breathe.

It would be lovely to just breathe during the break. Perhaps I will read some books that might help my creativity awaken from its slumber. It often feels as though power outages chip away at my imagination and curiosity. Perhaps I will recover my buried whimsy? Maybe my boyfriend, who is in the military, will be able to get a day off, and I will go to Kharkiv to visit him so we can spend a few rare, delightful days together.

*My silly beaver plushie, who looks as stressed as I feel, is looking at “Dracula” by Bram Stoker, a book I might read during my time off.*

Nastia, reporter

After four years of war, living with constant stress and tension has started to feel like the norm. We go through our daily routines on autopilot, despite ongoing danger, power and heating outages, freezing cold, and endless challenges.

I want to focus on what helps me stay grounded. To remind myself what a real normal life should look like: not a dark and cold home, but meeting loved ones in cozy cafes, spending time with my 2-year-old daughter in playrooms filled with joy, children’s laughter, and the kind of carefree fun childhood is meant to be.

*Me and my baby girl in a playroom, January 2026*

Earlier, spending a week off this way might have seemed mundane to me, something that wouldn’t truly feel like rest in a bigger sense. But now, creating small pockets of warmth and normality has proven to be more than enough to help me keep moving forward.

Liza, office manager

Constant drone and missile attacks practically destroyed my sleep schedule and my desire to study and read more books. I would like to use this as a chance to study and get back on track with my daily routine - walks, reading, yoga when I feel overwhelmed.

I don’t want it to be a strict schedule, but rather flexible, so there won’t be any harsh deadlines that make me more anxious in these circumstances.

Also, because of the cold weather I haven’t had a chance to meet up with friends or visit my grandma in the village where she lives, a place with no wi-fi that feels like a retreat from social media. This will be a great chance to spend a week socializing and recharging my mental battery with comforting people and cozy conversations.

Editor’s Note:

Your subscription helps us cover the basics our journalists need to keep going, from backup power to warm essentials. Despite everything, we keep bringing you stories because we understand our responsibility to you, our readers.

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