Kyiv, Ukraine
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Lyudmila Shramko left Kiev with her young twin daughters in 2024 to avoid shelling and power outages. But a year later, a 16-hour power outage hit her in western Ukraine.
The 40-year-old recalls experiencing a two-day unplanned power outage in her apartment in the capital during the summer of 2024, when temperatures were 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). “It’s been very difficult for the children,” she told CNN. Not only could she not turn on the air conditioning, she could not cook or use the elevator.
When Shramko moved to a new city with her one-year-old twins, Oleksandra and Elizaveta, she looked for an apartment with power outage features that Kiev didn’t have, such as a gas stove.
Last year, Schramko experienced another power outage, but this time during the winter. In most Ukrainian homes, when the power goes out, the heating also stops.
In recent weeks, Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with drones and missiles, using tactics it used last winter. The strike left tens of thousands of people without power or heat across the country in freezing winter temperatures. As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has stated, the purpose of such attacks is to “cause chaos and put psychological pressure on the population.”
A major strike took place in Kiev on December 27, leaving more than 40% of the capital’s residential buildings without heating. Kyiv residents were without power for an average of 9.5 hours a day in December.
With the country’s energy system so strained, energy companies have had to set schedules for rolling blackouts, and Ukrainians’ lives now depend on those schedules.
Mothers with young children rush to wash their children’s laundry as soon as the power is restored. Elderly people wait for electricity to be supplied in order to take the elevator and go outside.
Some cafes and restaurants even change their menus and prices depending on whether they get their electricity from the grid or from a diesel generator.
There are no lights at night in the city of Kamyanets-Podilsky in western Ukraine, where Shramko currently lives, she said. So she and her husband take their children outside in the morning before dark. The twins are now used to the roar of the generator and are able to sleep peacefully no matter how noisy it is.
The hardest thing for many Ukrainians is the uncertainty, with Russia’s persistent attacks making rolling blackouts even worse.
“We’re always worried,” Schramko said. “We’re always thinking about what’s going to happen next. For example, what happens if we don’t have electricity for a few days? What happens if we can’t charge our batteries?”
This battery not only powers your phone and laptop, but also a lamp (portable power station) that can be used during power outages.
It’s not just electricity and heating that may be cut off for several days. In the night leading up to December 13, a Russian attack on the port city of Odesa also damaged the water supply.
Valeria, an Odesa resident, told CNN that the night felt “apocalyptic.”
“That night was really bad because of ballistic (missiles), Shahed (Iranian drones) and air defense. I couldn’t sleep all night and hid in the hallway. After the attack, the lights, water and heating were immediately turned off,” she said.
The next morning, she went to a cafe “to charge my phone, warm up, and eat breakfast because I couldn’t cook anything at home.” Even the traffic lights weren’t working outside, Valeria said.
There was no running water in the cafe, so I couldn’t use the toilet or tap water, which is usually provided free of charge.
Pavlo Smirnov, a soloist with the Odesa State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, was unable to take a shower due to the lack of running water. On December 13, he posted a video on social media showing a makeshift shower he created using an office water dispenser and a power bank. He called it “the invincible shower.”
She also posted a video of herself dancing with her children in the dark during a power outage.
Other activities are highly dependent on power. But here, too, one school found a workaround.
“My 7-year-old son is fencing,” said Oksana Daniluk, a mother of three who lives in Kiev. “The school has a generator, but without power the generator can’t run for even 16 hours.” In December, the power outages got worse, with some lasting as long as 16 hours.
“Some of the fencing equipment relies on electricity,” she told CNN. “This is a professional piece of equipment that lights up when it’s hit. Of course, without electricity, it’s impossible to connect these sensors… So the coach tries to count it himself.”
As Daniluk and his family see, life doesn’t end when the lights go out. “Nothing stops. Schools continue to develop champion athletes. Music schools are preparing academic concerts. In other words, the lack of light is not a reason to stop living,” she says.
Speaking in western Ukraine, Shramko argues that the world should not sympathize with Ukraine, but should offer support.
“Despite all these circumstances, we are coming out stronger. No matter where we are, we are all fighting for our lives,” she said.
“Four years of war has been too long and we may have already forgotten our lives. But we are a wise nation, and we deserve to help the world unite around us and get through this period.”
CNN’s Kostya Gak and Ivana Kottasová contributed to this report.
