Ukraine Power Crisis: Russian Strikes Leave Kyiv Families Facing Prolonged Blackouts

KYIV: Families across Ukraine are struggling with prolonged power outages as intensified Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure leave millions facing an increasingly difficult winter.

In Kyiv, single mother Daryna Kulchytska is trying to care for her two children, Kyryll and Olena, while managing her work from home around an unpredictable electricity schedule. Living in a seventh-floor apartment, she must prepare meals, help her children with homework and complete her own work before the power supply is cut.

During recent days, her household has received electricity for only four or five hours at a time, with no consistent schedule. Power may remain available for two hours before disappearing for as long as eight hours.

The rolling blackouts, introduced in October as Russia intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, have made daily life increasingly difficult. Ukraine has also responded with strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Officials fear conditions could become unsustainable for millions if electricity supplies cannot be maintained for at least four hours a day. Some families in Kyiv are already experiencing outages lasting up to 20 hours, according to private concerns cited in the report.

The cuts began earlier than they did last winter and are lasting longer, leaving homes colder and darker. In Daryna’s apartment, the family wears extra layers as temperatures continue to fall.

When the electricity finally goes off shortly before 7:30pm, the lift stops working and water supplies are interrupted because electric pumps are needed to deliver water to upper floors. The family switches to torches and LED candles before gathering for a game of Uno.

Daryna’s 12-year-old son, Kyryll, described the disruption as exhausting, saying the family has repeatedly played its collection of board games because there is little else to do without electricity, heating, water or entertainment.

Across Kyiv, entire neighbourhoods are being plunged into darkness. The city’s metro trains and trolleybuses have also faced temporary disruptions, while hundreds of thousands of people across Ukraine have experienced power outages in recent weeks.

The scale of the damage became clear during a visit to one of Ukraine’s largest power stations, whose identity was withheld for security reasons. A recent ballistic missile strike devastated the facility, leaving twisted metal, broken pipes and damaged equipment scattered across the site. Its turbines were buried under rubble, forcing the station completely offline.

Volodymyr Kovalenko, who has worked at the facility for 25 years, was on duty in the control room when the missiles struck at around 3am. He described the attack as unlike anything the plant had previously experienced.

Although Kovalenko believes the facility can be repaired, ongoing air raids are delaying the recovery effort. During a four-hour visit, air raid warnings sounded seven times, forcing workers to stop their tasks and seek shelter.

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Recovery team leader Vadym Bobyr said repeated interruptions made it difficult for workers to maintain momentum. He described the emotional toll of repairing infrastructure that had already been restored once, only to see it damaged again.

During the visit, another alert warned of an incoming Banderol cruise missile. Workers rushed through the facility but could not reach the main shelter in time, taking cover behind one of the plant’s thick walls. The missile was later intercepted about five kilometres away.

Energy workers remain exposed to significant risks as attacks on power facilities continue. Since August, such strikes have occurred almost daily, causing fatalities and making repair operations increasingly dangerous.

Although teams have resumed work on the power lines connecting the facility to the national grid, the damaged station is not expected to supply electricity again before the end of the current winter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the country retains sufficient generating capacity to meet electricity demand. However, damage to transmission lines and substations is making it difficult to deliver power to homes and businesses.

Russia is also using so-called “waiter drones”, which can attach themselves to electricity pylons and cables and remain undetected until they are detonated, further threatening the country’s energy infrastructure.

Maxim Timchenko, chief executive of DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said the electricity grid was under greater pressure than last year. He attributed the worsening situation to the scale of attacks, the weapons being used and the inability of stretched air defences to protect every critical facility.

Timchenko said rebuilding the damaged power station would take at least until next summer. Workers are often able to complete only one or two productive hours of work per day because of repeated air raid warnings and security threats.

He described the effort to restore energy supplies as a fight for the survival of the country and ordinary people, particularly during winter.

Kovalenko also stressed the importance of keeping the energy system running, saying electricity was essential to people’s lives and the functioning of the state.

As conditions deteriorate, some residents are considering leaving Kyiv or moving abroad to escape months of severe cold. Daryna is also weighing whether to relocate somewhere safer or warmer, but remains reluctant to leave her home, friends and relatives.

She says the prolonged uncertainty is affecting her mental health and worries about its impact on her children, particularly her daughter Olena, who has been experiencing nightmares.

Despite the fear and exhaustion, Daryna says many Ukrainians are determined to endure life without electricity rather than live under Russian control. Her family, like countless others, faces an uncertain winter as attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure continue.