Winter pierces Kyiv homes after Russia knocks out heat

KYIV: Kyiv residents huddled against bitter winter cold inside their unheated apartments on Saturday as engineers struggled to restore power, water and heat knocked out in the latest salvo of Russian strikes.

Russia has regularly conducted intense bombardments of Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbour in 2022.

The war’s fourth winter could be the coldest and darkest yet, with the accumulated damage to the grid bringing utilities to the brink, and temperatures already below minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 F) and set to plunge further this week.

On Saturday, Kyiv’s heat, power and water, hit hard by a strike two nights earlier, were shut down again as engineers tried to repair the ruined power grid.

Galina Turchin, a 71-year-old pensioner living on Kyiv’s badly affected eastern bank, had a window covered by plastic sheeting after it was blown out when drone debris hit another part of her building during the last overnight attack.

She said she had not cooked food for two days, eating whatever had been left in their kitchen before the power, water and heat went out, and would now try to cook on a gas camping stove.

“We hope they will give us heat. If not power, then at least heat,” she said, standing wrapped in layers of jumpers in her kitchen.

The city administration said around noon local time (1000 GMT) on Saturday that the state grid operator Ukrenergo had ordered the city’s power system to be shut down, and that the water and heating systems, as well as electrified public transport, would also stop working as a result.

Less than an hour later, Ukrenergo said engineers had managed to remedy the immediate issue, which had been caused by damage from previous Russian strikes, and that power was coming back online in parts of Kyiv.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the heating system, which in Ukrainian cities is centralised and pumps hot water to homes in pipes, was also coming back on, and that she expected heat supply to be fully restored on Saturday.

However, she said that the power situation in the capital was still difficult, as the grid was badly damaged and people were using more electric heaters because of the cold.

He said he wants them to invest $100 billion in the country to vastly expand its production.

On Friday, with about half of Kyiv’s apartment blocks left without heating after the latest Russian missile and drone attack, Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents who had a warm place to go to temporarily leave the city.

Turchin, the pensioner in her cold apartment, said she had a village cottage in another region but it was unheated and would take three days to warm up with logs.

“The neighbour wrote. She said it was already minus 17 (Celsius) there last night.”