INTREP360 INTELLIGENCE REPORT

12.24.2025

December 24^th, 2025

Greetings! It is Christmas Eve and Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to wage war against Ukrainian civilians.

This time it is cross border raids in Sumy near the Russian border where dozens of Ukrainians have been kidnapped and deported to Russia. Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, has likened Putin’s modern-day terror campaign to “medieval raids.”

Plunder, rape and torture.

Those are the only dystopian gifts Russia’s soldiers are bringing to the men, women and children of Ukraine.

Yet, they are not imagined. They are all too real.

Today’s INTREP360 Intelligence Report will be brief. As will tomorrow’s briefing. Not just so that we can spend time with family and friends but so as not to yield what is an important holiday religious and/or family for many to Putin and his ilk.

Darkness – even that wrought by someone as evil as Putin – has one unique quality to it. Light emanating from stars, small villages and even candles glowing in the windows seemingly shines the brightest.

Ukraine, increasingly, because of ongoing attacks against the country’s power grid is experiencing these phenomena in real time. Yet, despite huge swaths of Kyiv, Kharkiv or Odesa going dark day after day, Ukrainians as a people are still shining brightly.

They cope, adapt and overcome. They even find time for snowball fights as did the two Ukrainian children we’ve been writing about since the war began. Finding normalcy during war time is one way of finding the light.

Photo credit: Kateryna. Ivan, background, Daryna foreground.

Earlier today, Kateryna, the mother of Daryna and Ivan, ages 7 and 13, reminded us that finding functional light in Ukraine – light that is fueled by electricity – is not as easy as finding light that overcomes a darkened spirit.

Kateryna, always unfailingly polite, was apologetic to us that why can’t always get back to us as quickly as she’d prefer. No apologies were needed. Especially after she explained why by sending us a screenshot of planned electrical outages for her neighborhood in Kyiv.

Photo credit: Kateryna (last name withheld to protect her and her children).

Imagine making your life work on that basis. Imagine the amount of planning it takes to make sure everything you need to get done that requires electricity gets done during the time grids available to you.

It isn’t easy. However, Kateryna – like countless Ukrainian mothers and fathers – makes it work. Not just for her but Daryna and Ivan.

Daryna is still learning ballet. When we first met her, she was practicing pirouettes by candlelight in Kyiv.

Photo credit: Kateryna. Daryna, then aged 3 in 2022.

Now, Daryna is competing. Not just in ballet, but rhythmic gymnastics as well. Kateryna tells us she just finished her first competition.

Ivan is flourishing as well notwithstanding the war. His passion for fencing is as strong as it ever was.

Photo credit: Kateryna. Ivan psyching up for his match.

Photo credit: Ivan lunging for the touch!

Daryna and Ivan are tough. Indeed, they are resilient as you can see by their smiles. But they are also human and they are just kids.

We asked Kateryna what concerns her the most about raising her kids during a war that often sees them scurrying to a bomb shelter or safe place. She answered their wellbeing. She noted that “[Ivan] worries about his future. Sometimes he is depressed [by] the opportunity to be killed by a rocket.”

Physically, they’ve adapted to the real time risks of war. She notes, “In general we got used to all those tragedies and danger.” It’s the long-term emotional scarring that’s compounding day after day that is harder to measure in the here and now.

Hard as it is, Kateryna is not willing to give up. Not if it means Ukraine withdrawing from its strategic fortresses in the Donbas.

She wants the war to stop to spare her children. But not at any cost that would risk destroying their future living as free adults in a sovereign Ukraine.

There was much more that we wanted to ask. But we didn’t. Not after seeing the limited amount of electricity available to her.

In many ways, however, the last picture she sent to us told us everything we needed to know. It is their family Christmas picture taken in a town square decorated for the holidays. Each is smiling – Kateryna, Daryna and Ivan.

Left to right, Ivan, Daryna and Kateryna. Kyiv at Christmas, 2025.

Putin may be robbing them of a lot. Peace, safety and basic needs. But he is not stealing their indomitable Christmas Spirit.

Perhaps this is the best INTREP360 Intelligence report that we can pen. Sometimes, you don’t need to circle the globe to find out what are the most important stories of the day affecting U.S. national security.

Sometimes – as is the case with Kateryna, Daryna and Ivan – you can find it in the hearts and souls of people fighting for freedom and against tyranny. They are the “stuff” – especially their smiles – that makes light so powerful in a world of darkness and war.

Their smiles are their holiday gifts to all of us. Let them light up your holiday season!

Merry Christmas!

Jon & Mark

Follow Jon on X at @JESweet2022 or on Bluesky at @JonSweet.bsky.social.

Follow Mark on X at @MCTothSTL or on Bluesky at @MarkToth.bsky.social.