Ukraine: Families in ‘survival mode’ amid Russian strikes and lethal chilly | EUROtoday

“Families have actually reverted to stuffing even soft toys to their windows to block some of the freezing cold,” stated Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Country Representative in Ukraine.

The alert follows one other evening of reported assaults towards energy infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia oblast within the south and Kharkiv oblast within the east which have left many residential areas with out electrical energy and heating.

The lethal menace of chilly brought on by assaults on power networks is changing into a “national-scale emergency…on top of the war”, Mr. Mammadzade informed journalists in Geneva throughout a scheduled briefing.

Pointing to temperatures of -15°C (5°F) in Kyiv on Friday, the UNICEF official warned that subsequent week may very well be even colder, whereas hundreds of thousands of households throughout the nation reside with out heating. “Children and families are in constant survival mode because of that,” he stated.

Aid shift

While the humanitarian focus till now has been on frontline areas, the fixed Russian strikes on city infrastructure together with residential areas have highlighted a much more sophisticated set of wants amongst folks dwelling in condo blocks.

These embrace Kyiv resident Svitlana “who is doing what she can to care for her three-year-old daughter, Adina”, on the ten^th ground of her constructing. “She told us that she had no heating or electricity for more than three days, and that was in the first week of disruption – we’re already on the second or almost third week – and many families continue to go without,” Mr. Mammadzade stated.

Echoing these issues from Kyiv, Jaime Wah from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) famous that though energy has been restored “in a matter of days” following earlier assaults on Kharkiv and Odesa, the scenario appeared tougher within the capital, the place she rubbed her fingers to maintain heat whereas speaking by way of video to journalists in Geneva. “In Kyiv, we’re facing a situation for sustained outages and also higher populations affected because of it,” she stated.

Nearly 4 years for the reason that full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, “children’s lives are still consumed by thoughts of survival and not childhood”, UNICEF’s Mr. Mammadzade warned, noting an 11 per cent improve in verified youngster casualties throughout 2025, in comparison with the earlier 12 months.

The company helps weak folks in Ukrainian cities by supporting massive communal tents the place they will get heat and discover video games and toys to play with.

“Svitlana can’t bathe Arina or prepare hot food, so she wraps her child in multiple layers and navigates 10 floors of the dark stairwell to reach a tent set up outside by Ukraine’s State Emergency Services,” defined Mr. Mammadzade. “There, they can warm up, get hot food, charge devices and speak with a psychologist – or simply sit in the warmth.”

The UN Children’s Fund warns that youngsters are particularly weak to the bodily and psychological influence of dwelling in the dead of night and dealing with freezing temperatures which it says can intensify worry and stress “and can lead to, or exacerbate respiratory and other health conditions”.

“The youngest are the most vulnerable,” Mr. Mammadzade defined. “Newborns and infants lose body heat rapidly and are at heightened risk of hypothermia and respiratory illness, conditions that can quickly become life-threatening without adequate warmth and medical care.”