Four days without heating in Kyiv: Dogs provide warmth, neighbors share food, and psychologists calm people down
"How are you keeping warm?” “Parents with babies—how are you wrapping them up? Mine’s only three months old.” “When will they finally restore the heating? It’s 10 degrees in my apartment.” “If you’re without water or gas, come over to mine.” Messages like these are flooding the social media groups of Desnianskyi—Kyiv’s most densely populated district, also known as Troieshchyna. Before the full-scale invasion, nearly 300,000 people called this place home.
After Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv overnight into January 9, half the capital lost electricity and heating for an extended period. Within two to three days, most residents had services restored. But in Troieshchyna, several buildings on different streets went without power for three days. Heating is still missing — now on the fourth day. We asked residents of these buildings how they are keeping warm at home and whether they visit the “Points of Invincibility.” The city authorities have set them up in 92 locations across the district, including schools, housing offices, shopping centers, and additional tents on the streets.
53-year-old Viktor Kolomiyets is angry. He says he is tired of freezing. His apartment is at +5 degrees, with old wooden windows. He lives alone, so he set up a tourist tent in the middle of the room.
“It is much warmer this way. I have a sleeping bag — I used to go hiking in the mountains. At night, I wrap myself up and sleep. Because of my disability, I cannot work, so I do not get to warm up at a job as my acquaintances do. I have a burner and gas canisters. I ordered more online today, but I have to wait three days.”
The situation in buildings without heating is further complicated by the lack of gas — “everything runs on electricity” — so pumps for supplying water to upper floors did not function either. People had to carry water on foot from street fountains or neighboring buildings. Some melted snow; some used bags for the toilet.
Iryna Zibarova, a retiree, says her building and two others nearby on Myloslavska Street still have no heating. The buildings are 22 stories tall.
““I am not very picky about temperature; I am not someone who freezes easily. Right now, I walk around the apartment in tights, insulated jeans, a sweater, and a fleece. I live in one room; I closed off the other two, one of them is a corner room, and it is impossible to sleep there. In the lived-in room, it is +12–13 degrees. I go to bed dressed and cover myself with a warm blanket. Plus my two dogs warm me — they have long, thick fur and sleep right next to me,” she laughs. “During the day, I am rarely home: I walk them three times a day. I also go shopping and go to the doctor. That is how I save myself from the cold. Yesterday, I went down to the heating point. I came across a hot lunch there. Some company supplies it: buckwheat, a cutlet, and asparagus beans. Very tasty. At home, I cooked on a gas stove; I have a bunch of power banks for charging lamps and the phone. My birthday is coming up, and my kids have invited me to a countryside retreat. I’ll be staying there until the cold weather passes. And the forecasters are promising a temperature rise soon.”
According to Iryna, many of her neighbors left the building after the attack to stay with relatives in villages.
In the “Point of Invincibility” the woman visited, there were few people on Monday. It is a tent from the State Emergency Service and the Red Cross. I step in, and my glasses immediately fog up; within a minute, I unzip my jacket — it is so hot. But over time, the feet get cold because the tent sits on frozen ground, and a thin film instead of a floor provides no warmth.
Ms. Mariia, in a blue jacket and sports cap with an unruly tuft sticking out, drinks “three-in-one” instant coffee with a piece of bread.
“We had no electricity on Radunska Street for three days. At one point, we were seriously considering blocking the road—entire buildings were ready to act. However, yesterday evening, the power finally returned. This morning, I cooked nonstop—I couldn’t bear the sight of another sandwich.
How did I get through it? A friend invited me over for soup and even packed some to take home. My friend called me for dumplings and set a bottle on the table. I even found myself laughing.
I work at a nearby school, so they called me in too. The world still has good people. I stopped by here just to warm up. Every day, I visit a different ‘Point of Invincibility.’”
“There was no electricity on our Radunska Street for three days; we were already thinking of whole buildings going out to block the road. But yesterday evening they turned on the power, so all morning I cooked something because I cannot look at sandwiches anymore. How I survived these days: one friend invited me for soup and gave me some to take; my godmother called me for dumplings and put a bottle on the table. I even laughed. I worked nearby in a school, so they called me there too. The world is not without good people. I stopped in here to warm up. Every day I go to different ‘Points of Invincibility.’”
A few minutes later, the woman thanked the SES workers and Red Cross representatives:
“I am going, because it is so hot in here that I cannot stay any longer. I am already used to the cold.” Everyone laughs.
Svitlana and Ivan Ovsiyenko, a middle-aged couple in puffer jackets, have thermal underwear and military sleeping bags for the night at home. They also warm up with their cats, they say.
“On the weekend, we went to the sauna with our friends. We washed and warmed up. We came here out of curiosity; maybe we will need to make use of it.”
Oleksandra Haponova works for the Red Cross. Next to her are huge thermoses with boiling water, bottled water, apples, cookies, and packed hot meals.
“More people are expected toward evening. On weekends, our main visitors are schoolkids from the skating rinks. They run in to warm up; besides that, we provide first aid: someone bruised themselves falling, someone got hurt another way,” the young woman says.
According to her, there are enough outlets for everyone, and you can stay in the “Point of Invincibility” — which, by the way, operates all night — as long as you want.
In a similar tent on the edge of Kyiv, surrounded by new construction and building sites, the visitors are two boys about 10 years old. They parked their sleds by the entrance. They drink tea and munch cookies. SES and police workers step outside and back in to warm up, but they cannot stay inside constantly. Their eyes water.
“We have 12-hour shifts, and breathing the gas they use to heat the tent with the ‘cannon’ is harmful,” one admits.
People keep asking SES psychologists the same question: “When will the heat come back?” There’s no clear answer—but they do their best to comfort those who are especially anxious.
While preparing the report, Nataliia Chyrviak, one of the residents of the buildings on Myloslavska Street where there was no heating, contacted the newsroom.
“Last night, the electricity finally came back on, and the pumps kicked in automatically, sending water rushing into the radiators. We were overjoyed. It sounded like Niagara Falls all night.
But by morning, we discovered a valve in the basement had been left open. Boiling water had flooded the space below. Steam filled the stairwell, and now the apartment walls are soaked. Even the electrical panel is dripping.
And the housing office chief said to me this morning, ‘These are just small things. What matters to me is that you have heating’.”
On January 12 at 5 p.m., the radiators in her apartment began to warm up.