Kyiv’s water and heating systems are back on after a brief shutdown Friday as engineers scrambled to stabilize a power grid battered by weeks of Russian strikes and a plunging cold snap.
The city administration said around noon local time that state grid operator Ukrenergo had ordered a full shutdown of Kyiv’s power system, forcing water and district heating to stop and halting electrified public transport. Less than an hour later, Ukrenergo said crews had remedied the immediate issue, caused by damage from earlier attacks, and power was returning to parts of the capital.
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Officials cautioned the situation remains fragile. With temperatures below minus 10C (14F) and forecast to fall further, residents are turning to electric heaters, adding strain to a network already “badly damaged” by repeated strikes.
An overnight strike on Thursday left about half of Kyiv’s apartment blocks without heat as the deep freeze set in. In a separate update, authorities said about 6,000 of the city’s apartment buildings lost heating after the latest missile and drone attack. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said heat had been restored to roughly half of those buildings by Friday before supplies were interrupted again due to the grid problem.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. The renewed winter campaign has brought rolling blackouts and intensified strikes on heating systems, complicating efforts to keep basic services running amid sustained subzero temperatures across much of Ukraine and Russia.
The pressure on civilian infrastructure is mirrored across the border. The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said 600,000 residents were without electricity, heating and water after a Ukrainian missile strike. Work to restore supplies was under way but the situation was “extremely challenging,” he said in a Telegram post.
Footage filmed by Reuters in Belgorod city showed street lights out and residents navigating darkened streets with hand-held torches and car headlights. The Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and with a prewar population of about 1.5 million, has come under regular attack from Ukrainian forces throughout the war.
Ukrenergo and municipal services in Kyiv have raced to shore up resilience with mobile boilers, backup generators and rapid repairs when lines are hit. But officials acknowledge that cumulative damage from the past two winters has left the grid vulnerable, even as crews work around the clock to reroute power and restart heat and water systems after each strike.
The rolling disruptions underscore how energy has become a central battlefield, with each side targeting the other’s ability to keep cities functioning in midwinter. The humanitarian stakes are high: prolonged outages risk bursting pipes, freezing households and shutting down transit, complicating emergency services and rebuilding efforts.
Diplomatically, the crisis will be on the agenda at the United Nations next week. The U.N. Security Council will meet Monday to discuss Ukraine, according to diplomatic sources cited by AFP. Ukraine’s request for an emergency session was supported by France, Latvia, Denmark, Greece, Liberia and the United Kingdom.
As Kyiv’s lights flicker back, authorities urged residents to conserve power and prepare for additional interruptions. Utility crews continue repairs across the capital and outlying regions, but with temperatures dropping and attack warnings frequent, stability remains tenuous.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
