No electricity, no gas, no running water, no heating: the reality for millions in Ukrainian winter

Just outside Kyiv in Borodyanka, some residents are facing the freezing Ukrainian winter without heating and having to find alternatives to stay warm. Electricity and gas grids have been badly damaged by Russian missiles over the last few months.

Hanna Reznikova is a resident in the area, “I switch on the electric heater and small fan. But it’s not enough, this one is partly broken and hardly gives off heat. We cover ourselves with a few blankets, that’s how we sleep.”

The fiercest battles are now taking place in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Moscow has been trying to encircle the city it has been bombing for months. The city’s last residents survive under Russian artillery fire.

Since the fighting began, most of Bakhmut’s pre-war 70,000 population has fled. The few who remain must now survive with no electricity, no gas, no running water, no heat and no internet connection.

“”I was promised a new combustion furnace for heating. But I never got it. How do we survive when the house is freezing cold?” a resident called Irina asked with tears in her eyes.

Meanwhile President Volodymyr Zelenskyy explained the critical situation to a donors’ conference in Paris, saying that about 12 million people in almost all regions and the capital are disconnected from energy supplies. 

“Unfortunately, this is a typical situation for us. And we expect new Russian strikes every day, which can dramatically increase the number of shutdowns.”

Dozens of countries and international organisations pledged €1 billion in aid to keep Ukrainians powered, fed, warmed and moving as winter.

Watch the video in the player above.