Some Kyiv residents are choosing to leave the Ukrainian capital rather than face another winter of Russian strikes and power cuts, the BBC reports. Among them is Mariia Shostak, a mother of two who says last year's sub-zero temperatures and frequent blackouts were unbearable, and she will not put her young children through it again.
Mariia Shostak, a mother of two, is packing her bags and leaving her small flat in Kyiv. "It was a very difficult winter last year in Kyiv," she told the BBC. With prolonged periods of sub-zero temperatures and frequent power cuts caused by Russian attacks on the country's power grid, she said last winter was one of the hardest so far. "There were some days and weeks that were unbearable. I started thinking I'm not going through another winter like this."
Shostak is not even waiting for winter. She said everything changed in late August and early September, when Kyiv began to be attacked around the clock. "Earlier, the drones and missiles were intercepted somewhere on the outskirts. Now it was happening in the centre, right above our heads."
By the end of September, the escalating attacks had hit petrol stations, power plants and key bridges over the Dnipro river. Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the city was facing a "very dramatic situation," warning that the attacks were "tearing Kyiv apart."
Shostak's children, four-year-old Artur and two-year-old Kira, were both born after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Unwilling to subject them to another miserable, dangerous winter, she is taking them abroad.
Autumn's cooler temperatures now hint at another tough season to come, as Ukrainians wrestle with the twin challenges of Russian drone and missile strikes and the biting cold.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- A second winter of strikes on Ukraine's power grid threatens to push more civilians out of cities and deepen the humanitarian toll of the war.
- The attacks target the essentials of urban life: electricity, fuel supply and transport links across the Dnipro, affecting all of Kyiv rather than only the front lines.
- The timing of the strikes, just before the cold season, raises questions about whether making city life unbearable is itself a goal of the campaign.
Background
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, and Ukrainian infrastructure has been a recurring target throughout the war. Last winter, strikes on the power grid left parts of the country, including Kyiv, enduring long stretches of freezing temperatures without electricity. The current wave of attacks has brought that threat back before the cold season has even begun, and the BBC reports that wreckage from Russian drones can now be found on the streets of the capital.
Key Perspectives
Kyiv residents like Mariia Shostak: They are weighing the danger of strikes against the hardship of blackouts and cold. Shostak's decision to leave before winter reflects a view that the threat has moved from the outskirts into the city centre, where attacks are now happening above residents' heads.
City authorities: Mayor Vitaly Klitschko has described the situation as "very dramatic," saying the attacks are "tearing Kyiv apart." His warning signals the pressure on the capital's infrastructure and the difficulty of maintaining normal life under sustained bombardment.
Critics and skeptics: There is a risk that departures themselves become part of the impact of the campaign. If strikes and blackouts drive residents from their homes, the attacks achieve an effect that a military breakthrough has not. Those who remain face the prospect of another winter spent in the cold and the dark, with the grid already damaged.
What to Watch
- Whether Russian strikes on power plants, fuel stations and bridges intensify as temperatures drop.
- How quickly Ukraine can restore power this winter, and whether prolonged outages return to the same scale as last year.
- Whether more families follow Shostak abroad, and how the departure of residents affects Kyiv's civic life as winter sets in.