How Kyiv residents adapt to life without electricity, heat, and water

Setting the table using a gas stove

81-year-old Zinaida and her husband Mykola live in a new residential building on the Left Bank of Kyiv. Their apartment is equipped with an electric stove, like most apartments in modern residential complexes.

This year, they bought a gas stove from the Ukrainian brand Sigma. The previous foreign-made camping stove didn't work out. They chose it quickly, trusting the seller's advice. The price is reasonable even for pensioners — 850 hryvnia (35 US dollars).

Sigma ignites automatically from a piezoelectric element. It works from a collet gas canister, identical in form to a hairspray. One canister lasts a pretty long time, says the pensioner. But the canisters are disposable. They are sold in any hardware store.

But how functional is a gas stove? Zinaida shares a recent example from her life.

"We were expecting guests — five adults and two children. But there was no electricity. I was worried that I wouldn't have time to prepare the meal. Then we got out the gas stove. My husband fried crucian carp for the whole group, and I made chops and boiled potatoes. We managed to do everything in two hours," the woman says happily.

"There is nothing to wash with, nothing to keep warm with"

Iryna is 54 years old and lives with her husband and two cats on the fifth floor of a residential building on the Left Bank of Kyiv.

Although the fifth floor should have water and heating, it does not. The building is long, and these amenities reach the first two sections, but not Iryna's apartment. The apartment also has only an electric stove.

"There is no heat or light. There is nothing to wash with, nothing to keep warm with," says the Kyiv resident.

To ensure that the toilet would at least function during power outages, Iryna's husband bought a 100-liter water tank and connected it to the cistern. He works with furniture, so he found a place to put such a large container. He installed a slightly smaller tank in the bathroom, like an outdoor sink, so that they could at least wash and brush their teeth.

The family washes as soon as they get electricity and water. In extreme cases, they heat water on a gas burner.

Also, the family bought small adhesive lights for the bathroom and toilet. They react to movement and turn on, which also saves energy.

When it gets cold in the apartment, Iryna and her husband heat water on a burner, pour it into plastic bottles, and hide them under blankets. That's how they keep warm. "When the room is cool, you sleep even better," adds the woman.

The family keeps warm with the help of their pets too. One is Caramel, an Oriental shorthair cat, and the other is Daryska, a moggy cat. They curl up next to their owners and keep them warm during power outages.

When the power outage is not too long, the couple can connect the TV to a charging station. But if the outage is extended, it is not rational to use the station's charge for this. In that case, a small reading lamp powered by a power bank comes in handy.

When their grandson comes to visit, they turn on a small light and play with Lego or board games.

"It's like forced "undigitalization", and it helps us spend time together," says Iryna.

Fondue pot for cooking

Tetiana is 34 years old. She lives with her husband and young son Maksym on the fifth floor of a 16-story residential building on the Right Bank of Kyiv.

Tetiana says that they had been preparing for power outages since 2022. They bought a charging station, power banks, flashlights — the basic set of equipment. Now this helps them get through short power outages, but with the arrival of a child, the family faces other challenges.

The child needs to eat in the morning. A fondue pot helps them cope with this task. They gave it to their parents as a gift, and now use it to heat up soup, porridge, or to cook couscous.

It runs on solid fuel tablets. One tablet is enough to cook a serving of couscous.

The only day there was no heating in the apartment was when there was a severe frost. Tetiana says that they coped with it normally, "We just ran around, played, and dressed warmer". However, as the situation worsens, it may be necessary to develop a more sustainable, systematic plan. Tetiana does this from time to time. She draws up an action plan and a list of essential items that will help them survive if the situation deteriorates dramatically. "It helps me sleep well," concludes the Kyiv resident.

Kyiv is a big city, and that also helps. Across the street from their house is a fast food restaurant that serves homemade dishes. When the power is out for a long time, the couple buys something low-fat or not too spicy for their child. They can eat something from the refrigerator themselves.

Tetiana also has a gas stove with a cylinder, but she is afraid to use it in her apartment because of the risk of explosion.

"If this continues, I may decide to use it after all. I've had it for two or three years now," she says.

A power outage with a baby is a double burden

Alona is 34 years old. When she became pregnant, her family decided to move to Boryspil (city not far away from Kyiv), hoping that it would be easier to cope with power outages there. They bought a more powerful EcoFlow charging station to power the boiler, refrigerator, baby formula maker, and basic lighting.

"With a small child in your arms, it is much more difficult to deal with problems related to power outages, because there are many more challenges," says the woman.

Severe power outages in their home began on Christmas Eve, December 24. The family spent Christmas without electricity, and after December 26, any hope of a return to scheduled power outages faded. From Christmas Eve until today, there has been very little electricity. And even when it does appear, the voltage fluctuates between 150 and 170 volts.

The charging station works all night, especially during such cold nights. The house must always be warm, because they have a small child. The house cools down very quickly.

However, EcoFlow also needs to be charged. To do this, the family uses a generator. The generator requires constant trips to get gasoline. If there is no gasoline, they cook on a gas stove. When the power comes on, it is possible to turn on the boiler or washing machine, dryer, or dishwasher, but not immediately.

"During this time, I've used up almost all of my baby food supplies because I simply don't have the opportunity to cook and freeze food anymore," says Alona.

Christmas miracle

The decision to leave the city did not improve the situation for everyone. After large-scale power outages began, Vitalii moved to a village in the Kyiv region, several dozen kilometers from the capital.

However, the situation turned out to be completely different from what he had hoped for. The village was also without electricity. The electric wires on both sides of the road hung almost to the ground under the weight of ice that had accumulated on them after the freezing rain. Some of them were utterly broken.

The road to the village was heavily snowed in. About a hundred people currently live in the village. When residents began calling the district authorities to request that the power be restored, they were told to "wait".

Now, the warm bathroom in the house has been replaced by an old wooden toilet outside, which no one has used for a hundred years. In the well, you first had to break the ice and then get the water. There was also almost no mobile communication.

Therefore, when on Sunday the village telegraph announced that people should go out onto the road and block traffic to be noticed, some residents considered this a rather "reasonable decision". Especially when rumors spread that "the neighboring village has electricity".

They gathered near the village store to block the road, which few people use anyway because it is covered with snow. While they were making up their minds, they got cold and decided to walk to the next intersection. And there, a real Christmas miracle awaited them — an electrician who looked like Santa Claus, with a ruddy face and a red nose. His gray beard and even his gray work jacket looked festive.

He looked at us suspiciously and, nodding his head toward a group of people, asked, "Why are they standing there?" "They're waiting for you!" the people replied. The electrician snorted and, taking either a phone or a walkie-talkie out of his pocket, said, "Let's go, everything's fine here”.

And somewhere in the distance, a real festive ringing suddenly spread. It was a tow truck , its aerial work platform catching the frozen tree crowns that were bending down under the weight of the ice. Within five minutes, work was already in full swing. The team of electricians lifted the aerial work platform, wound up the damaged cables, and unwound new ones. Within half an hour, the village had light again.

The next day, the light disappeared again, but that's an entirely different story...

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