In Kyiv, defiant residents switch to survival mode
Many in capital pack spots with electricity a day after airstrikes
KYIV, Ukraine — Residents of Ukraine’s bombed capital clutched empty bottles in search of water and crowded into cafes for power and warmth Thursday, switching defiantly into survival mode after Russian missile strikes a day earlier plunged the city and much of the country into the dark.
Some Kyiv residents resorted to collecting rainwater from drainpipes as repair teams labored to reconnect supplies.
Friends and family members exchanged messages to find out who had electricity and water. The previous day’s aerial onslaught on Ukraine’s power grid left many with neither.
Cafes in Kyiv that had both electricity and water quickly became oases of comfort Thursday.
Oleksiy Rashchupkin, 39, awoke to find that water had been reconnected to his third-floor flat but power had not. His freezer thawed in the blackout, leaving a puddle on his floor.
So he hopped into a cab and crossed the Dnieper River to a cafe that he’d noticed had stayed open after previous Russian strikes. Sure enough, it was serving hot drinks and food, and Wi-Fi was available.
“I’m here because there is heating, coffee and light,” he said. “Here is life.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said about 70% of the Ukrainian capital was still without power Thursday morning.
As Kyiv and other cities picked themselves up, Kherson on Thursday came under its heaviest bombardment since Ukrainian forces recaptured the southern city two weeks ago. The barrage of missiles killed five people, witnesses said.
Ukrainians say that if Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intention is to break them, he should think again.
“Nobody will compromise their will and principles just for electricity,” said Alina Dubeiko, 34.
She said she’d rather be without power than live with the Russian invasion, which crossed the ninemonth mark Thursday.
“Without light or you? Without you,” she said, echoing remarks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky made when Russia on Oct. 10 unleashed the first of what has now become a series of aerial attacks on key Ukrainian infrastructure.
Western leaders denounced the bombing campaign.
“Strikes against civilian infrastructures are war crimes,” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov acknowledged Thursday that it targeted Ukrainian energy facilities. But he said they were linked to Ukraine’s military command and control system and that the aim was to disrupt flows of Ukrainian troops, weapons and ammunition to frontlines. Authorities for Kyiv and the wider Kyiv region reported a total of seven people killed and dozens wounded.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sought to shift blame for civilian hardship on Ukraine’s government.
“Ukraine’s leadership has every opportunity to bring the situation back to normal, has every opportunity to resolve the situation in such a way as to meet the demands of the Russian side and, accordingly, end all possible suffering of the civilian population,” Peskov said.
In Kyiv, people lined up at public water points to fill plastic bottles. In a wartime first for her, 31-year-old Kateryna Luchkina resorted to collecting rainwater from a drainpipe so she could at least wash her hands at work, which had no water.
“We Ukrainians are so resourceful, we will think of something. We do not lose our spirit,” Luchkina said. “We work, live in the rhythm of survival or something, as much as possible. We do not lose hope that everything will be fine.”
The city mayor said on Telegram that power engineers “are doing their best” to restore electricity. Water repair teams were making progress, too. In the early afternoon, Klitschko announced that water supplies had been restored across the capital, with the caveat that “some consumers may still experience low water pressure.”
Power, heat and water were gradually coming back elsewhere. In Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the governor announced that 3,000 miners trapped underground because of power blackouts had been rescued.
Authorities are opening thousands of so-called “points of invincibility” — heated and powered spaces offering hot meals, electricity and internet. More than 3,700 were open across the country Thursday.