BORYSPIL, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� Emergency repair crews are working flat out to restore power in the Kyiv region of Ukraine, officials said Wednesday, after on energy infrastructure left Ukrainians at the mercy of the coldest winter in years.
In Boryspil, a town in the Kyiv region with a population of around 60,000, workers dismantled and rebuilt burned-out electrical systems as they rushed to fix the damage.
amid temperatures of -15 C (5 degrees F) from early morning till midnight, Yurii Bryzh, who leads the Boryspil regional department of private electricity provider DTEK, told The Associated Press.
They have managed to restore the supply for four hours a day. But Bryzh said the problem was 鈥渨hen the power comes back on, people turn on all the electrical equipment that is available in the house鈥� as they dash to wash, cook or recharge their phones. That collapses the system again, he said.
The hardship of civilians is acute amid what Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko described as since of its neighbor almost four years ago. Some homes have been going without electricity for days.
Apartments in the capital are freezing, and when venturing outside people wear heavy layers of clothes against the bitter cold that chills to the bone. Across Kyiv, snow covers the ground and roofs and is piled up next to sidewalks. At night, the streets are dark and towering apartment blocks show no light in the windows.
Kyiv residents told the AP how they cope with the lack of light and heat at home.
A married couple, scientists Mykhailo, 39, and Hanna, 43, said the temperature in the bedroom of their 5-year-old daughter Maria has fallen to -15 degrees C (5 degrees F). They gave only their first names for security reasons.
They have a gas stove to cook but at night they huddle together in the same bed under heavy blankets. 鈥淲e have to use all the blankets we have in the house,鈥� Hanna said.
The couple take their daughter to work with them during the day, because the premises have a generator whereas Maria鈥檚 kindergarten has no heating.
Christmas decorations still hang on the walls of their apartment, occasionally lit up by their flashlights.
Zinaida Hlyha, 76, said she heats water on her gas stove and puts it in bottles that she tucks into bed. She says she doesn鈥檛 complain because Ukrainian soldiers on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have it worse.
鈥淥f course it鈥檚 hard, but if you imagine what our guys in the trenches are going through now, you have to endure,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat can you do? This is war.鈥�
Tetiana Tatarenko said two of her sons are fighting in the war. She grew more fearful of Russia鈥檚 nighttime barrages after a Shahed drone hit the apartment building next door.
In her cold apartment, it seemed that normal life has shut down.
鈥淚t鈥檚 as if life in the house has stopped, that鈥檚 the feeling,鈥� she said.
Her neighbor, 89-year-old physicist Raisa Derhachova, lives alone and sometimes plays the piano in what she calls 鈥渢his terrifying cold.鈥�
鈥淥f course, it鈥檚 hard to survive this. We survived World War II, and now this terrible war is upon us,鈥� she said.
Russian barrages are aiming at power plants and large substations, and procuring replacement equipment such as transformers can take months, according to Dennis Sakva, an energy sector analyst at Dragon Capital, a Ukrainian investment company.
鈥淭here are two types of heroes in Ukraine,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey are the military and energy workers.鈥�
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Volodymr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine contributed.
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