Ukrainians face brutal cold without heat after Russian attacks on energy grid

Geoff Bennett:

Russia launched nearly 400 drones and 29 missiles at Ukraine overnight. The full-scale invasion and war will enter its fifth year next week. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving millions there without heat or electricity for weeks at a time.

Producer and videographer Amanda Bailly in Kyiv and Nick Schifrin report now on residents of Ukraine's capital under fire in record-setting coal.

Nick Schifrin:

In Kyiv, this is a dark, bitter winter, a once-bustling European capital. Now the night streets lie mostly desolate and cold, a city whose homes look as Russia wants them, empty, its residents living in shadows; 73-year-old Lyudmila Bachurina cooks in her 19th floor apartment by flashlight and gas burner.

This winter, the temperatures dropped to minus-14 degrees Fahrenheit. The windows are lined with ice. She helps her daughter stay warm. The power plants here provide both light and heat. They have had neither for up to 17 hours a day.

Lyudmila Bachurina, Kyiv Resident (through interpreter):

I'm tired. It's really tiring, to be honest, when you don't go outside and you don't see the sun, when there's no light and you can't just go down to the store.

Olena Janchuck, Kyiv Resident:

When my husband is at work, my mother and I are dealing with all this together. My mother and I, we support each other.

Nick Schifrin:

There is no limit to the support that 63-year-old Vasyl Ivanovych will give to his 40-year-old son, Taras (ph). But in blackouts, the burden is heavier.

Taras is disabled and can't walk. And no electricity means no elevator. Vasyl says he feels like the war has set them back hundreds of years. Inside, no power or heat, so the warmth comes from Vasyl caring for his son and from the orthodox Christmas trimmings.

But this family is especially vulnerable. The closest shelter is two blocks away. And sometimes the missiles land without warning. Since the start of the year, Ukraine says Russia has attacked the energy grid more than 217 times, including at least six strikes that damaged all three of Kyiv's major combined heat and power plants.

It's not all the time. Vasyl Ivanovych invited us back when the family had power. He used to work at the local subway station. Now he is his son's full-time caregiver. He keeps a car battery in the kitchen for charging.

Vasyl Ivanovych, Kyiv Resident (through interpreter):

When people are left without gas and electricity, I'm sorry, but it's very difficult, especially children, pensioners, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Nick Schifrin:

He shows himself in younger days and his family, his grandfather wearing a Soviet uniform. Today, he calls Russians terrorists.

Vasyl Ivanovych (through interpreter):

I can't imagine these children will grow up and remember these times, Russia and these people who did all this. And I'm not even talking about those who have seen someone die with their own eyes.

Nick Schifrin:

And yet Ivanovych maintains his humor and appetite, even if he knows the power is not reliable. He starts comparing today to Soviet times.

Vasyl Ivanovych (through interpreter):

Who knows what's better at the end? Oh, the power just went out. The elevator isn't working. There's no light. But that's OK.

President Donald Trump:

Because of the cold, extreme cold. They have the same that we do.

Nick Schifrin:

Last month at a Cabinet meeting, President Trump announced a deal with Russia to spare Ukrainian power.

President Donald Trump:

I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week.

Nick Schifrin:

That was Thursday, January 29. Three days later, on February 1, a Russian drone hit a bus in Southeast Ukraine. The strike killed 12 coal miners, considered members of Ukraine's energy sector. And then, two days later, February 3, Russia's largest strike on Kyiv so far this year damaged two power plants.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through interpreter):

They want to take advantage of the cold because they cannot subjugate us with their assaults. Every Russian strike hits not only our energy sector, but also those leaders who talk to Russia and receive continued war in response.

Nick Schifrin:

That continued war has forced millions in Kyiv to fend for themselves in subzero temperatures, often for weeks at a time. But Ukrainians are resilient and sometimes turn the cold into celebration.

(Music)

Nick Schifrin:

A deejay led a rave on Kyiv's frozen Dnipro River, dancing for defiance, because, just hours before, Russia had launched 375 drones and 21 missiles at Kyiv and Kharkiv, leaving 1.2 million Ukrainians without power.

The strikes and blackouts are so common, Kyiv created invincibility points, fitted with heat, power, water and food, a tent where Kyiv residents can find brief distraction from the war; 79-year-old Vyacheslav Piontovsky and his 78-year-old wife, Kateryna, live on the 12th floor of a nearby apartment building.

They have come for some much-needed heat and to recharge their phones and their resolve.

Kateryna Piontovskya, Kyiv Resident (through interpreter):

We stand strong because we want victory. Nothing will break us, not the cold or hunger. We're ready to survive anything. We're not giving up.

Nick Schifrin:

But the relentless attacks are too much to bear for others like Natalia Shponarska.

Natalia Shponarska, Kyiv Resident (through interpreter):

Emotionally, it's the fifth year. We can't keep coping. I'm tired. These kids grow up in war.

Nick Schifrin:

It is hard for her 8-year-old son, Mark, to watch his mother cry. But in this tent with 10-year-old Nastya (ph), at least the family can stay warm. They haven't had heat for three days.

Natalia Shponarska (through interpreter):

At home, there is no power, no water, no heating. We live on the 16th floor. It's so cynical what that jerk Putin says about wanting peace with Ukraine. He kills every day. This is his peace?

Nick Schifrin:

This is not peace. This is war. And war can be cold, dark and relentless.

For the "PBS News Hour," with Amanda Bailly in Kyiv, I'm Nick Schifrin.