In the middle of winter, with temperatures dropping to -15°C, the residents of Kiev and the city of Boryspil survive in apartments without electricity and heating, after Russian bombings destroyed Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
American journalists from the Associated Press visited Boryspil and Kiev to report on the consequences of Russian bombings on power plants and substations, as well as the efforts of energy workers to restore power under extreme conditions.
“Repairers work in the snow, at temperatures of -15 degrees, from early morning until midnight,” said Yuriy Bryzh, head of the Boryspil regional branch of the private company DTEK, reports focus.
Even so, his team managed to restore power supply only four hours a day.
“When people simultaneously turn on all electrical appliances, the system is overloaded and breaks down again,” Bryzh explains.
The mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, warned that the city is facing the longest and most extensive power outages since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022. Some homes remain without electricity for days on end.
For residents, winter turns into a daily struggle for survival. Mykhailo and Anna, scientists aged 39 and 43, tell how the temperature in their five-year-old daughter Maria’s bedroom drops to -15 degrees.
They have a gas stove for cooking, but at night they all gather in one bed, under all available blankets. To avoid the cold, they take their daughter to work, where there is a generator, because Maria’s kindergarten does not have heating.