Kateryna Skurydina goes to bed wearing thermal underwear, two sweaters and a scarf. She covered herself with a duvet and two blankets. But her secret weapon is her cat Pushok.
“His body temperature was high. So he was like a hot water bottle,” she told CNN.
The heating system in Skuridina’s apartment in Kiev has been largely shut down since Russia launched a massive attack on the city’s energy infrastructure on January 8, causing power outages to hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses and schools in the capital.
With temperatures this week having dropped to minus 19 degrees Celsius (minus 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit), officials said it was no coincidence that the Russian air strikes coincided with what the prime minister said was the harshest winter in 20 years.
Like most Ukrainians, Skuridina is now accustomed to frequent power outages. She has multiple power banks and anti-blackout gadgets. Her apartment is filled with faux USB-powered candles, Christmas lights, and camping lanterns.
The cold is new, though.
Temperatures in her building have dropped to as low as 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past few days, a full 8 degrees below the World Health Organization’s recommended healthy indoor temperatures.
On January 14, 2026, a large screen in Kiev showed a temperature of -14 degrees Celsius. – Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images
“Mentally it’s been very difficult. Now that I’ve lost the heat, I realize I don’t really need the electricity that much. When you have the heat but no electricity, it’s all good,” she said, noting her habit of exercising to boost her mood during power outages.
“Exercise keeps me going. I go to a gym that uses eco-fuel. (But) yesterday, they even (closed) the gym because there was no heating and it was cold. You can’t go anywhere.”
state of emergency
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared a state of emergency for the country’s energy sector on Wednesday, acknowledging the serious consequences of the Russian attack and extremely low temperatures.
Kiev Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said 300 multi-story buildings in the capital were still without heat as of Thursday, down from 6,000 buildings after a massive attack a week ago.
While Kyiv was the worst affected, emergency power outages were reported across the country.
Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that Russia had launched a massive attack on Zelensky’s hometown of Krivoy Rog in central Ukraine, knocking out power to tens of thousands of people. Severe power outages were also reported in Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine. On Thursday, the attack caused power outages in Zhitomyr in the west and Kharkiv in the northeast, according to Ukraine’s energy ministry.
Many schools have closed, unable to heat classrooms to safe temperatures. Shops, cafes and restaurants that would normally provide respite to residents seeking warmth and electricity have also been forced to close.
It has been so cold this week that some diesel generators – vital to keeping the lights on when the grid is out – have stopped working.
On January 13, 2026, there was a power outage in his apartment in Kiev. Local resident Stas helped his 2-year-old daughter use the headlights. – Andrew Kravchenko/AFP/Getty Images
Authorities in Kyiv and elsewhere across the country already operate hundreds of “invincibility points” where locals can stay warm, charge their devices and work. Zelensky said on Wednesday that more such facilities would be opened.
Iryna Palandina, who arrived at a relief site in Kiev on Thursday, told CNN that her home had no electricity, no water supply and no way to cook.
“We came for tea because I didn’t even have anything to boil water,” she said. “After the last attack, things became so difficult. Before this, we were more or less (managing). I always thought our home was prepared, we had inverters, uninterruptible power supplies, batteries… but when they only had power for two hours a day, they ran out of power and had no time to recharge,” she added.
On social media, residents of Kyiv who have more hours of daylight are actively offering help to those who don’t. In some residential areas, neighbors gathered in their yards to cook over campfires and socialize during power outages. Videos circulating on social media showed people grilling meats, drinking hot drinks and dancing to keep warm.
Russia has consistently denied attacking civilian infrastructure, despite overwhelming evidence suggesting otherwise.
Data released by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Thursday showed that Russia has carried out at least 256 air strikes on energy facilities and heating systems across Ukraine since the start of the heating season in October.
The statement said the figures showed the attacks were “aimed at destroying the Ukrainian people and constitute crimes against humanity.”
Ukraine’s energy minister said on Friday that not a single power plant in the country had not been attacked by Russian forces during the war.
International organizations and Ukraine’s allies have condemned Russia’s targeting of Ukrainian energy facilities.
‘A very resilient country’
Serhiy Salata is the owner of the company “Ї’м Salata”, which grows lettuce and other agricultural products in professional indoor vertical farms in Kiev. For the plants to survive, Salata needs temperature, light and carbon dioxide levels in the air to be as consistent as possible — a difficult task when unexpected power outages are a constant threat.
The company has solar panels and generators to power the most important parts of the system, but still relies partially on the grid for power.
“Conditions force us to keep experimenting,” he said. “For example, I need to calculate the temperature in a room that will not drop below a critical level if the lights are turned off for four hours.”
People keep warm in sub-zero temperatures in a tent provided by emergency services for residents whose apartments have no heating, in Kiev, Ukraine, on January 13, 2026. -Thomas Peter/Reuters
Sitting in her cold apartment, Skuridina beat the cold with online shopping, ordering an electric blanket and two hot water bottles.
“In a moment of desperation, when it was really cold, I ordered everything I saw. Everything I liked,” she said, pointing to an installation made of clay pots and several tea lights. “It acts like a fireplace in your hand. It doesn’t actually heat the room, but if you’re sitting next to the computer, it will make you feel a little warmer,” she said.
Meanwhile, her cat Pushok also started eating the soup. “Maybe because it was hot? He (usually) hated it. But he started eating it bit by bit,” she said. The cat’s name translates to “fluffy” – ironic since it’s a Sphynx cat and has no hair.
“When coronavirus hit, coronavirus seemed like the worst thing ever. And then it seemed like the worst thing was the shelling, and then there was no electricity. I think we’re going to be a very resilient country,” Skuridina said, stroking Pushok in his sweater.
“I already know how to live without electricity, without heat, without shells. Any day-to-day problems will be easier to solve. I hope I will be that grandmother who always has a charged power bank just in case, a pack of candles, some freeze-dried food, and everything that runs on batteries or USB.”
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