Ukrainians share recommendations on Threads to outlive winter energy cuts : NPR

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Andrew Kravchenko/AFP by way of Getty Photographs KYIV — After repeated Russian assaults on Ukraine's power grid, Ukrainians are going through lengthy cuts to heating, electrical energy and water throughout the coldest winter since Russia's full-scale invasion practically 4 years in the past.

After a Jan. 9 assault, practically 6,000 properties had been left with out heating in Kyiv, in keeping with town's mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Utility providers and power employees labored across the clock to revive electrical energy to almost all these properties final week. However lower than two weeks later, one other assault knocked electrical energy out once more.

Heating methods have shut down as a result of their pumps and management boards rely upon electrical energy. With out electrical energy and heating, a contemporary skyscraper turns into a chilly concrete field, and panoramic home windows with breathtaking views of the Dnipro River, a supply of chilly.

With exterior temperatures dropping to near-zero levels Fahrenheit, and in every single place coated in ice and snow, the ability cuts have chilled Ukrainian properties a lot that home windows ice up inside and a few folks can see their breath indoors. NPR spoke to a number of residents of Kyiv who say they handle by sporting their coats indoors, cooking with transportable campfire stoves and sleeping underneath a number of layers of blankets.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8016x5344+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F52%2F20%2F667d9b0a4419b7600c2e39d4dc4b%2Fgettyimages-2255605572.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8016x5344+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F52%2F20%2F667d9b0a4419b7600c2e39d4dc4b%2Fgettyimages-2255605572.jpg" class="img" alt="A big screen on a building displaying a temperature of -14 degrees Celsius in Kyiv on January 14, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. " loading="lazy"/> A giant display screen on a constructing shows -14 levels Celsius in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 14. Sergei Gapon/AFP by way of Getty Photographs cover caption

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Sergei Gapon/AFP by way of Getty Photographs The lengthy blackouts amid the freezing temperatures have worn folks out, psychologist Yulia Babiak instructed NPR.

On social media, Ukrainians share life hacks, together with photographs of do-it-yourself heating gadgets made out of bricks and candles and posts about makeshift methods to maintain heat at residence. In shops, cabinets that used to carry transportable fuel stoves, heaters and chemical heaters are actually virtually empty. For a lot of metropolis residents, these tenting provides have turn out to be the one method to keep heat, cook dinner meals or warmth water.

In January, the solar units in Kyiv at 5:30 p.m., plunging the capital into twilight after which darkness till the subsequent morning's dawn at 7:30 a.m. Each residence by now has a number of kinds of battery-powered flashlights, USB lamps and Christmas lights. In cafes and eating places, folks dine by the comfortable flickering of candles and the hum of mills.

The NPR bureau in Kyiv operates on backup energy, batteries and a diesel generator, however it's not sufficient. So employees need to maintain heat with blankets and scorching water bottles.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F40%2F36%2F876d8435485aba8fdfdba7a66561%2F2026-01-13t145149z-2033056916-rc2e0ja48jl0-rtrmadp-3-ukraine-crisis-energy-kyiv.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3001+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F40%2F36%2F876d8435485aba8fdfdba7a66561%2F2026-01-13t145149z-2033056916-rc2e0ja48jl0-rtrmadp-3-ukraine-crisis-energy-kyiv.JPG" class="img" alt="People warm up in a tent provided by emergency services " loading="lazy"/> Individuals heat up in a tent supplied by emergency providers for residents whose flats are left with out heating throughout sub-zero temperatures, amid Russia's assault on Ukraine, on a winter day in Kyiv, Ukraine January 13, 2026. Thomas Peter/Reuters cover caption

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Thomas Peter/Reuters For many who didn't handle to purchase transportable fuel heaters and stoves, firebricks have turn out to be a well-liked commodity. Customers of the social community Threads present methods to increase the temperature in a room by a number of levels utilizing easy do-it-yourself heaters. Those that have fuel of their flats or homes place bricks on the fuel range. As they warmth up, the bricks give off warmth and heat the room. Those that reside in high-rise buildings the place fuel shouldn't be used create a construction out of candles, barbecue grills and bricks laid on the grill. This methodology is efficient but additionally unsafe. Individuals on-line additionally remind customers that you will need to use detectors for carbon monoxide and smoke.

A safer and equally in style method to maintain heat is to make use of a daily tenting tent. As social media customers have found, for those who arrange a tent proper within the bed room and put a couple of plastic bottles stuffed with scorching water inside, you'll sleep hotter. Those that do not need tenting expertise and/or tools recall their childhood and construct tents out of blankets. Normally, most social media customers agreed that scorching water bottles in mattress are the simplest and most secure method to maintain heat at evening. They write that the warmth from the bottles lasts for about 4 to 5 hours. Electrical blankets are helpful if they are often plugged in.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5787x3858+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1c%2F29%2F071aca8e4048ab8411f4ffcbda2b%2Fgettyimages-2255536361.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5787x3858+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1c%2F29%2F071aca8e4048ab8411f4ffcbda2b%2Fgettyimages-2255536361.jpg" class="img" alt="Customers stand at a coffee booth supplied with power generator electricity during a scheduled power outage" loading="lazy"/> Prospects wait at a espresso stand powered by an electrical generator throughout a scheduled outage within the heart of Lviv, Ukraine, following Russian missile and drone assaults on Ukrainian power infrastructure. Yuriy Dyanchyshyn/AFP by way of Getty Photographs cover caption

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Yuriy Dyanchyshyn/AFP by way of Getty Photographs Companies with mills are additionally reaching out on social media to supply shelter and assist to these with out energy and electrical energy. Along with the cell heating factors arrange by the State Emergency Service and charitable organizations, native residents are creating their very own shelters.

Espresso retailers, fuel stations, and native residents deal with utility and power firm employees concerned in repairs to scorching espresso and snacks.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5560x3707+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc5%2Fa0%2F30fd37244afaa5062dda0a9a9740%2Fgettyimages-2257015967.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5560x3707+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc5%2Fa0%2F30fd37244afaa5062dda0a9a9740%2Fgettyimages-2257015967.jpg" class="img" alt="TOPSHOT - People sit in a dimly lit bar by candlelight during a power outage in Kyiv, on January 22, 2026, following Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP via Getty Images)" loading="lazy"/> Individuals sit in a dimly lit bar by candlelight throughout an influence outage in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 22, following Russian missile and drone assaults on Ukrainian power infrastructure amid the Russian invasion. Roman Pilipey/AFP by way of Getty Photographs cover caption

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Roman Pilipey/AFP by way of Getty Photographs Uninterested in the darkness, chilly and incapability to cook dinner scorching meals, residents of one in every of Kyiv neighborhoods obtained collectively to barbecue. It changed into an actual "resilience" get together with music, mulled wine, and dancing to maintain heat.

Taisiia Nechytailo, the proprietor of a magnificence salon, gives native residents free hair washing if they do not have scorching water at residence or the chance to work on their laptops within the salon, which has an impartial energy supply and uninterrupted web entry.

"Russia's tactic of placing on the power sector, making an attempt to go away us with out mild and warmth, shouldn't be working," Nechytailo tells NPR. "We're solely getting angrier and know precisely what we're preventing for."