“This is not ‘put on a sweater.’ This is cold from which there is nowhere to hide.” How Ukrainians survive without light and heat in cold apartments

Kyiv, January 15, 2026. Photo: Roman Pilipey / AFP / Getty Images

“I am specifically writing this in Russian. Not because ‘it’s more customary that way.’ But because it will reach them. Those very Russian-speaking Russians in Russia who like to say: ‘We have nothing to do with this,’ ‘This is politics,’ ‘We are outside the war.’ Well then – you *are* involved.

I will survive because I have a job and at least some money. Because yes, I can go to "Sportlife" and warm my body under a hot shower. Because yes, I can eat a warm burger at "McDonald's" and pretend that life goes on. That's why it's especially disgusting for me to write this text. Many don't yell or complain. But, damn it, it's so cold. This is not "oh, winter." This is not "put on a sweater."

This is cold from which there is nowhere to hide. It's in the walls. In the floor. In your fingers. In your head. It doesn't go away, even if you lie under three blankets and pretend to sleep. Chernivtsi. The center of Europe. Shaheds hardly fly here. Thank you, of course. But there are 19 hours without light. <…>

I am almost sure that I will survive. I will live through this. I will find a warm shower, food, an outlet, a corner. But I am not afraid for myself. I am afraid for those who will not write. Who just sits in a cold apartment and thinks: "The main thing is to make it until morning." The elderly, mothers with infants in their arms.

I have a thermos with tea. I have hot water bottles in bed. I hug my son tighter. I am doing everything correctly, as per survival instructions. But the electricity is turned off for six hours. Then it's on for an hour. And in that hour, you don't have time to get the warmth back. <…>

Today someone will die from the cold. Not on the front line. Not from a missile. Simply in their apartment. Quietly. Without witnesses. Eighty years have passed since the Second World War. The world said "never again." People said "we have changed." Nothing has changed. People are still the same beasts.”

Kyiv resident Tatyana tells journalists from the Ukrainian service of "Radio Svoboda" that she doesn't take off her winter clothes at home — she sleeps in several vests and a hat. The thermometer in her apartment shows 1-2 degrees Celsius.

Due to the cold, pipes are freezing in homes, and in some apartments, water in toilets and sinks. Kyiv residents report that furniture in their homes is cracking – also due to the cold. Handrails and staircases in stairwells are freezing.

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