As autumn's cooler temperatures set in, Ukrainians are wrestling with twin challenges: Russian drone and missile strikes, and the biting cold. Last winter in Kyiv was one of the hardest so far, with prolonged periods of sub-zero temperatures and frequent power cuts caused by strikes on the country's power grid.
"There were some days and weeks that were unbearable. I started thinking I'm not going through another winter like this," said Shostak, who decided not to wait for winter to arrive.
"Everything changed in late August and the beginning of September, when Kyiv started being attacked around the clock," she said. "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 escalation had included strikes on petrol stations, power plants and key bridges over the Dnipro river, and wreckage from Russian drones can be found on the streets of the capital. Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the city was facing a "very dramatic situation", describing the attacks as "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 dangerous winter, she is taking them abroad.