Peace negotiations give freezing Kyiv a hint of hope

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The electricians of Kyiv’s Troyeshina district see the worst of it. For over a week the working-class suburb has been without central heating, with 300,000 people exposed to temperatures as low as -20°C.

Residents’ nerves are fraying—as is the wiring, strained by surges from improvised stoves. Electricians scuttle between the brutalist housing blocks, patching burnt-out connections. At least two have died on the job.

Nina Svyrydovych, a utility manager, says they are often greeted as gods: “People hope we will deliver light." At other times they become lightning-rods for public anger. On January 28th dozens of residents blocked a road to stop workers leaving a job, until police intervened. The collapse is the effect of Russia’s bombing of Ukraine’s energy network.

Reserves and balancing capacities are disappearing. On January 29th Donald Trump brokered a brief energy ceasefire for Kyiv. But on February 3rd a record barrage of Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure.

Kharkiv, a city of 1.3m, was forced to declare a state of emergency. Troyeshina’s latest ordeal began on January 24th, when Russia knocked out its thermal power plant, Kyiv’s biggest. To stop pipes from freezing and bursting, municipal engineers drained the system.

In early February part of the plant began working again, but with temperatures hitting -25°C engineers were still racing to avoid disaster. “Catastrophe comes in stages," says Maksym Bakhmatov, Troyeshina’s chief administrator. “First water, then heating, then electricity, and finally sewage." Residents of one Kyiv suburb already complain of fecal matter in bathtubs.