As Ukraine approaches the fifth year of war, the country is enduring its harshest winter since Russia’s invasion. Massive drone and missile attacks on energy infrastructure have left hundreds of thousands without electricity or heating, amid heavy snowfall, persistent frost, and nighttime temperatures dropping below –20 degrees Celsius. Cities including Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and Odesa have been severely affected, but the situation is particularly dire in Kyiv.
The capital, home to nearly three million people, faces the real risk of a humanitarian catastrophe should further strikes hit its already fragile power grid. In central Kyiv, daily life has become a constant struggle. Residents wrapped in thick layers move cautiously across icy, uncleared sidewalks. Emergency generators rattle outside shops and public buildings, while many businesses remain in darkness. “We can’t make coffee, only sell baked goods,” says a young vendor at a kiosk left without power.
Power outages have become part of everyday life. Since autumn, scheduled blackouts have been announced hour by hour, following Russia’s renewed campaign of systematic strikes on substations, power plants, and combined heat-and-power facilities. Ukrainian officials say the objective is clear: to break civilian morale and resilience. The situation deteriorated sharply after ballistic missile and drone strikes late last week.
Nearly 6,000 apartment buildings were left without heating, affecting several hundred thousand residents. In some eastern districts, electricity was cut for days, disrupting public transport and making even basic tasks like cooking impossible. The lack of heating has forced many residents to adopt extreme survival measures. In homes with gas stoves, people heat bricks over open flames, wrapping them in towels to use as makeshift sources of warmth in their beds. Even where district heating has been officially restored, many complain that radiators remain lukewarm at best.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko acknowledges that the city is currently experiencing emergency outages, though he says energy workers are operating around the clock to repair damage. Around 300 residential buildings remain completely without heat. To ease the crisis, authorities have opened 45 warming centers operating 24 hours a day and relaxed the nighttime curfew to allow residents to stay overnight in shelters.
The crisis has also reignited political tensions. President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized Kyiv’s municipal leadership for insufficient preparedness, accusations that Klitschko firmly rejects. Meanwhile, weather forecasts indicate that extreme cold will persist for several more weeks, making it unlikely that Kyiv will emerge from its current crisis before the arrival of spring.
