Ukrainian piano teacher Yevgenia touches the keys with stiff fingers before retreating to her mattress and sheets to escape the cold in her Kiev apartment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that the country would declare a “state of emergency” for its energy sector, which has been hit by a massive Russian attack and collapsed with temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius.
Last week, Russian drone and missile attacks left half of Ukraine’s capital without heat, prompting Mayor Vitali Klitschko to call on residents to temporarily leave the city if possible.
Six days later, some 300 apartment buildings still lack heat and the capital faces extended emergency rolling blackouts as authorities try to ration precious supplies.
In Yevgenia’s apartment, the temperature hovers at a chilly 12 degrees Celsius.
Her building’s heating system, which is connected to the city grid, is cut off every time the power goes out because backup batteries don’t have the capacity to take over.
“We have been without power for 12 hours,” she told AFP. “This is not the worst case scenario.”
Every hour the power goes out, the temperature in her living room drops further.
“As each day goes by, we get closer and closer to zero.”
– ‘Break people’ –
Armed with a flashlight and her cat by her side, Yevgenia slipped into a warm pocket inside the apartment: a makeshift mattress castle.
The temperature inside reached 24°C.
“The idea came to me at midnight yesterday,” said the 32-year-old, who was surprised by its effectiveness.
“I just wanted some sense of, I don’t know, security, a sense of childhood.”
Russia has carried out attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid every winter since its invasion in February 2022, attacks that Kyiv says are aimed at harming civilians.
“This is an attempt to break people,” Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Kiev Energy Industry Research Center, told AFP.
He accused Russia of trying to push major cities “into a man-made disaster, an absolute crisis.”
He added: “The current energy supply and heating situation in several major areas is the most difficult in the entire war.”
In Kiev, the glow of car headlights and runners’ headlamps illuminated otherwise cold, dark city streets after sunset.
The sound of Russian attack drones mingled with the low hum of generators.
But residents were afraid to look up to see the threat above, keeping their eyes on the road ahead for fear of slipping.
People exercise by candlelight in gyms, get haircuts by the light of headlamps and scan supermarket shelves by the light of their mobile phones.
There is no electricity at home, so the refrigerator becomes a shelf and the balcony becomes a freezer.
– No ‘disaster’ –
The city also set up large heated tents to distribute hot meals.
But in a crisis, politics also plays a role.
Zelensky blasted city officials for their response.
“Too little is being done in the capital,” he said in a video address on Wednesday.
Political rival Mayor Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxing champion, fired back.
He said on Telegram that such comments “undercut the selfless work of thousands of people” and condemned the “hateful” messages directed at him.
Zelensky has ordered an emergency increase in electricity imports to help restore power.
Meanwhile, Yevgenia is waiting out winter in her blanket fort, surrounded by her phone, power bank and “of course, kittens.”
“This cat is priceless,” she said.
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