It could be a winter like in a picture book – with snow, frost flowers and double-digit minus temperatures, from which you can recover with a cup of hot tea when you’re warm again. It could be a winter like in a picture book. If there wasn’t war.
A wave of destructive Russian air strikes and a cold spell that has lasted for several weeks are giving Ukraine its worst winter of war since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. The situation is particularly critical in the capital Kiev, the main target of the wave of attacks. On Tuesday night, Russia again carried out extensive air strikes with more than 300 drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. According to the energy company DTEK, more than 335,000 households were initially without electricity again.
The continued attacks have not only caused serious damage to the electricity network, but are also affecting the availability of central heating and (hot) water. The result: tens of thousands of apartments have not been able to be heated for days – life-threatening given the cold outside temperatures. The mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko spoke of 6,000 high-rise buildings affected. The situation is particularly critical in the districts on the eastern bank of the Dnipro.
“Yes, the situation is tough,” says Rada MP Inna Sowsun from the liberal party “Holos” in an interview with the “Presse”. “Last week I only had electricity for a few hours on three or four days – in the middle of the night.” If the power goes out, she – like many other residents of high-rise buildings – has no water or heating, reports Sowsun, mother of a son. “The temperature in my apartment has dropped to twelve degrees.” The usual overviews in which the network operators provided information about planned shutdowns are now no longer in effect. “You never know when the power will go out again.” This makes daily planning – when to cook, wash or shower – impossible. The situation is “emotionally very difficult,” says MP Sowsun. “And we don’t see it ending any time soon.”
“It’s cold in my apartment,” says Tetyana Pereverseva, who lives in a suburb of Kiev. “But for people with children and old people it’s even more difficult.” After all, she went for a manicure today – a ritual of self-care. But it was cold: “We were both sitting in our coats.”
On social networks, residents report even more extreme conditions and are trying to organize help for those in particular need. The resident of an apartment on the 16th floor reports: “It’s five to seven degrees here. There’s electricity for a maximum of ten to 15 minutes at a time.” Old or immobile people who live alone in freezing cold apartments are now particularly at risk. “On the ninth floor, an old woman, single, 85 years old, she cannot move without an elevator,” says another report. The woman needs food. “She can’t go shopping.”
People are desperately trying to get rid of the cold: by staying in one room, drinking tea from a thermos, wearing thermal underwear or warming themselves under several blankets. Many people try to spend as much time as possible in warm places: in cafes, shops, cultural institutions – somewhere where the heating still works. Other shops and supermarkets have to close.
The so-called “points of invincibility”, tents in which people can warm up, are now being visited en masse, unlike in previous winters. Ukrainian railways have provided heated wagons. School is suspended until the beginning of February.
Many capital city residents have traveled to the countryside or other parts of the country to spend the winter there. Olha and Olena Stetsenko have been staying in rented accommodation in western Ukraine for almost three weeks after long power outages and, to make matters worse, a burst heating pipe have made it impossible to stay in their apartment. “We will stay here and watch how the situation develops,” the two Kiev women reported to the “Presse”.
This winter, Russia appears to be coming closer than ever to its goal since the start of the war of paralyzing public life and ultimately making Ukrainian cities uninhabitable. Deaths from hunger and cold can no longer be ruled out. The repair brigades are often no longer able to keep up with the repairs. In addition, following the recent attacks, other critical infrastructure – such as distribution stations – is likely to have been irreparably damaged.
Future development depends on several factors. When it gets warmer (plus temperatures are expected at the beginning of next week), everyday life in the capital should relax a little. But the Kremlin is likely to continue its deadly air campaign. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Tuesday of another major attack and called for further international support for Ukrainian air defense.
Also the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha asked for help for his country. He called the latest attack a “barbaric” blow that should be a wake-up call for the heads of state and government at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Sybiha said on the online platform
