Kyiv residents are enduring daily blackouts lasting up to seventeen and a half hours as Russia's relentless bombardment of Ukraine's power infrastructure forces three million people to adapt their lives around rationed electricity and freezing temperatures. This fourth winter of war has turned basic necessities like heating and elevator access into luxuries.
Olena Janchuk, a 53-year-old former kindergarten teacher who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis, is trapped on the 19th floor of her Kyiv apartment building. With elevators non-functional during blackouts, she cannot navigate the 650 steps to ground level. She and her 72-year-old mother, Lyudmila Bachurina, have turned their small room into a makeshift heating chamber using heated bricks.
«When there's no light and heat for seventeen and a half hours, you have to come up with something,» Olena said. «The bricks work best in a small room, so we stay in there.»
Kyiv's tower blocks, many dating from the Soviet era, now face systematic power cuts as temperatures plummet to -10 Celsius. Residents meticulously plan daily activities like cooking, showering, and charging devices around limited electricity schedules. Bachurina describes racing against time when power returns: «When the lights come on, I start turning on the washing machine, fill up water bottles, cook food, charge power banks, run around the kitchen and run around the house.»
Extensive infrastructure damage
Russia's ongoing attacks have inflicted more than $20 billion in direct damage to Ukraine's energy sector, according to joint estimates from the World Bank, European Commission, and United Nations. Yuriy, a shift supervisor at a coal-fired power plant, described the destruction: «After missile and drone attacks, the consequences are terrible – large-scale. Our energy equipment has been destroyed. It is expensive.»
Power plant workers conduct repairs amidst wreckage, with casualties among their ranks. «Right now, we're restoring what we can,» Yuriy said. Officials requested his full name and the plant's location remain undisclosed for security reasons.
Invisible barriers
Disability advocates are urging Kyiv city officials to fund generators for residential buildings, warning that non-functional elevators create "invisible social barriers" that isolate vulnerable populations. Many apartment blocks cannot afford generators themselves. The problem is particularly acute for wounded war veterans who now face additional mobility challenges in their own homes.
The psychological toll weighs heavily. «I'm tired, really tired, to be honest. When you can't go outside, when you don't see the sun, when there's no light and you can't even go to the store on your own… it wears you down,» Bachurina said. «But the important thing, as all Ukrainians say now, is that we will endure anything until the war ends.»
Kyiv officials have updated power-saving schedules, dimmed streetlights, and invested in less centralized power generation. Commercial areas utilize diesel generators, while residents plan lives around electricity availability, prioritize shelf-stable food, and wear heavy clothes indoors.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
