After extensive Russian aerial strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure in recent weeks, about half the capital’s residents are without heating or power.
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The temperature is not above zero.
Young people in Kyiv gathered in a row of cafes and bars as an air raid siren blares. Heating, light, and music can be provided by generators.
Karina Sema, a 24-year-old journalist, told Al Jazeera, “It’s really important for the youth to meet up and do things together so we don’t break down mentally.”
A video from the day before was shown on her phone after she took out her phone. A song called All I Need Is Your Love Tonight can be heard by about 100 people singing along to the song in torchlight around a speaker.
The most recent major attack occurred on Tuesday night when Russian forces fired drones and ballistic missiles at the entire country, causing darkness in the city and even the Ukrainian Parliament as repair workers began to restore some of the grid’s components following an earlier in January assault.
State of emergency
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been the subject of numerous attacks that have prompted the president to declare a state of emergency in the energy sector. He claims that Russia purposefully stoops up the bitter cold snap to start a war.
Volker Turk, the UN’s representative for human rights, called the strikes “cruel” and a “clear violation of international law.”
Water pipes in some buildings burst due to lack of heating, which causes flooding as the water freezes.
Residents of a neighborhood on the left bank of the capital’s capital, which has experienced repeated drone strikes and no electricity, reported several creative solutions to the crisis.
A portable petrol-powered stove can be used to warm a brick, which helps to warm the apartment and retains heat for a long time after the stove is turned off.
Assiya Melnyk, a single mother in her 30s, showed Al Jazeera around her apartment, which had had no electricity for the whole day.
“My eyesight is going because I squint in the dark for so long”, she said, holding a small torch.
“It is hard to stay warm, we use jumpers and blankets, I just think of my daughter and keeping her well mentally and physically”, she said.
Economic impact
The attacks on infrastructure also hurt business owners who have struggled for almost four years under a wartime economy.
Enes Lutfia, a 24-year-old originally from Turkiye, told Al Jazeera that he is now considering closing his restaurants and bars.
It costs him almost $500 a week to fuel his generator.
“I have no customers”, he said. “Young people hang out together on the street or at home, many adult men are fighting, many women have left the country”, he said with a resigned shrug.
Defending the country’s energy sector is also costing Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said the air defence missiles used after Tuesday’s attack cost about $90 million.
‘ You stay with your own mind ‘
It is not just Kyiv that has been affected. Cities such as Kharkiv in the east and Odesa in the south have also suffered near darkness.
In central Ukraine’s Poltava, Anatoli, a 54-year-old car mechanic, told Al Jazeera he now gets electricity only for a few hours at night. He works in his garage in the early morning hours when the lights are on.
He is considering leaving Ukraine.
“I will leave as soon as they open the borders”, he said.
In a restaurant in the city’s centre, 23-year-old Maxim Senschuk told Al Jazeera that staying at home with no electricity can affect a person’s mental state: “You stay with your own mind”.
He bemoaned a “psychological war on society”, but added, “All my family, friends, we are not scared, it has been four years]of war]. We are simply fed up with this right now.
Source: Aljazeera
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