Kyiv Gets Only Four or Five Hours of Power a Day as Russian Strikes Push Ukraine's Energy System Toward Crisis

Russian strikes have pushed Ukraine's energy system into deep crisis. Many residents of the capital Kyiv receive electricity for only four or five hours a day. In a seventh-floor flat in Kyiv, single mother Daryna Kulchytska tries to finish dinner and her work from home for her son Kyryll and daughter Olena before the power goes out.

Daryna says that in the last few days they had power for only four or five hours, and not at the same times. For two hours they have electricity, then for eight hours they do not. This rolling schedule of planned power cuts has been in place since October, as Russia intensified attacks on Ukraine's energy grid. Ukraine has responded by striking Russian oil refineries.

Officials are concerned that life will quickly become unsustainable for millions of Ukrainians if power supplies cannot be maintained for at least four hours per day. Some privately warn that is close already, as some families are living with outages of up to 20 hours in Kyiv.

The power cuts were introduced earlier this year than last winter and are already lasting longer. Just before 7:30pm the power goes out in Daryna's flat and there is darkness until dawn. The lift does not work and the water stops flowing because electricity is needed to pump it to their flat. Torches and LED candles come out and the family gathers for a card game of Uno before an early night.

Twelve-year-old Kyryll, who learned perfect English during two years living in the US, says there is no light, no water, no heat, no electricity and no fun. They have a lot of board games, but they have played them many times already. Daryna says you look outside and sometimes you see nothing; you have a big city around you but you see nothing because there is no light.

Kyiv has been worst hit, with its metro trains and trolleybuses at times brought to a standstill. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have gone without power in recent weeks.

One of Ukraine's largest power stations has been reduced to twisted metal and broken pipes after a ballistic missile strike, described as the most powerful and devastating attack of Russia's campaign against Ukrainian energy targets. The site, which reporters were asked not to name for security reasons, has been taken completely offline, its turbines buried in rubble.

Volodymyr Kovalenko was on duty in the control room when the missiles hit at 3am. He followed in his parents' footsteps and has worked at the site for 25 years. He says it was a very powerful attack, unlike anything they had experienced before, and that the damage is heartbreaking, though he is confident it can be repaired.

The repair work is being hampered by air raids every 15 to 30 minutes, seven times during a four-hour visit. Each warning forces teams to down tools and take cover, and if there is no time to reach the main shelter, workers hide in the foundations of the site's towering chimneys.

Vadym Bobyr, 39, who is leading the recovery effort and has worked there half his life, says it is very difficult to be mentally prepared for a job and then have to get out quickly when the siren goes off. He says it is emotionally difficult because they had already repaired the plant and got it running again, and now it has happened all over again, but they keep working.

As he spoke there was another alert, an incoming Banderol cruise missile. Workers could not reach a shelter in time and used one of the plant's thickest walls for cover. The missile was eventually intercepted 5km away.

Energy workers are at enormous risk. Since August there have been almost daily attacks on power facilities, claiming several lives every week. A team has returned to reinstating the power lines feeding the national grid, but the shattered plant will not be carrying electricity before the end of this winter at least.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine still has enough generating capacity to meet electricity demand; the problem is getting it to homes and businesses when so many power lines and substations have been hit. Russia is using waiter drones that cling to pylons and cables and go undetected until Russia decides to detonate them.

Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said Russia was putting the degraded grid under even greater pressure than last year and overstretched air defences were unable to protect all critical infrastructure. The attacks have doubled in power and scale. Rebuilding the damaged station will take at least until next summer, because workers under sustained attack are limited to only one or two productive hours per day.

Many are choosing to leave the capital, or Ukraine altogether, to avoid months of bitter cold. Daryna is torn between staying close to friends and relatives and worrying how unbearable life may become. The strain is damaging her mental health and her daughter Olena suffers nightmares. Still, Daryna says she does not want to live without light, but people in Ukraine say: without light, but without Russians.