Kyiv's Tower Block Residents Endure Freezing Darkness as Russia Targets Energy Grid
Residents of Kyiv are confronting a harsh reality of prolonged winter power outages as relentless Russian missile and drone strikes continue to devastate Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure. The situation has left thousands stranded in high-rise apartments, battling freezing temperatures and darkness in what has become a daily struggle for survival.
Life Without Power in High-Rise Isolation
Olena Janchuk, a 53-year-old former kindergarten teacher suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis, has been effectively trapped for weeks on the 19th floor of her Kyiv tower block. With elevators rendered useless by continuous blackouts, the 650 steps to ground level present an insurmountable barrier. "When there's no light and heat for seventeen and a half hours, you have to come up with something," she explains, describing her makeshift heating solution of candles arranged beneath stacked bricks designed to absorb and slowly release warmth.
Throughout her apartment, USB charging cables snake across floors from overloaded power strips, while her electric blanket remains connected to a power bank rationed strictly for the coldest hours. A permanent line of frost decorates the inside of her windows as January temperatures plummet to -10 Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit), with intricate white patterns creeping across the glass each morning.
Adapting to Electricity Rationing
In this fourth winter of conflict, electricity has become a carefully rationed commodity across Kyiv, a city of approximately 3 million people dominated by Soviet-era tower blocks. Residents now plan their entire lives around electricity schedules, determining when to cook, shower, charge phones, and operate washing machines. Food selection prioritises shelf life, while water is filtered into bottles and stored in buckets for emergency use.
Sleep patterns have become fractured by air raid sirens and the necessity to utilise electricity during limited off-peak hours. Families like Janchuk's shift between rooms according to which spaces catch the winter sun, with the function of each area changing dynamically with the blackout schedule. At night, heavy outdoor clothing remains worn indoors as apartments cool rapidly without central heating.
Community Responses and Social Barriers
Across snow-covered Kyiv, diesel generators rumble on commercial streets while shoppers navigate supermarket aisles using phone flashlights. Bars and restaurants glow by candlelight, creating an eerie atmosphere in what was once a vibrant capital city. Specialised mobile applications notify users of narrowing electricity windows, typically just a few hours long, providing barely enough time for essential household activities.
The situation becomes particularly challenging for residents of higher floors. In Janchuk's 22-story building, located near a power station where residents witness missile and drone attacks firsthand, people climb stairs in darkness during blackouts, their phone lights bouncing off concrete steps accompanied by echoes of children and barking dogs. Some thoughtful residents leave plastic bags containing cookies or water inside elevators for those who might become trapped when power cuts occur mid-ride.
Disproportionate Impact on Vulnerable Residents
While residents in upscale neighbourhoods sometimes pool funds for generators to maintain elevator operation, most tower blocks housing pensioners, families, and people with disabilities cannot afford such solutions. Disability advocacy groups, including those representing wounded war veterans, argue that staircases have become invisible social barriers, effectively cutting vulnerable people off within their own homes.
These organisations are urgently pressing city officials to fund generators for residential buildings. Until such measures materialise, life continues to bend around the electricity timetable, with USB lamps, power banks, and inverter batteries becoming household staples. Telegram chat groups have emerged as vital community tools, helping neighbours check on elderly residents and exchange blackout updates.
Systemic Damage to Energy Infrastructure
The scale of damage to Ukraine's energy system is staggering. Russia has inflicted vast destruction upon power stations and transmission lines, with too many facilities damaged to meet demand even with electricity imports from European neighbours. To prevent complete grid collapse, operators impose rolling blackouts, prioritising hospitals and critical services while residential areas endure darkness.
At one repeatedly struck coal-fired power plant, shift supervisor Yuriy walks through wreckage of charred machinery, collapsed roofs, and control panels melted into useless lumps. Repairs are conducted by torchlight, with giant sandbags shielding equipment that remains functional. Photographs of colleagues killed during attacks hang solemnly near the entrance.
"After missile and drone attacks, the consequences are terrible – large-scale," Yuriy states, noting that officials have requested the plant's location and his full name remain undisclosed for security reasons. "Our energy equipment has been destroyed. It is expensive. Right now, we're restoring what we can."
Economic Impact and Recovery Efforts
According to joint estimates from the World Bank, European Commission, and United Nations, Ukraine's energy sector has suffered more than $20 billion in direct war damage. Kyiv authorities have repeatedly updated austere winter power-saving schedules, dimming or cutting streetlights in low-traffic areas while investing in less centralised power generation solutions.
Yet for residents of Kyiv's tower blocks, restoration feels distant. Lyudmila Bachurina, Janchuk's 72-year-old mother who manages household chores, expresses the collective fatigue: "I'm tired, really tired, to be honest. When you can't go outside, when you don't see the sun, when there's no light and you can't even go to the store on your own... it wears you down."
Nevertheless, she voices the resilient spirit shared by many Ukrainians: "But the important thing, as all Ukrainians say now, is that we will endure anything until the war ends." From upper floors, residents look out over a skyline of high-rises and historic golden-domed churches, watching nightly flashes of explosions as Russia continues its campaign against Ukraine's energy system.
