More than half of Kyiv remains without electricity one day after Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelensky said today, as Ukrainians struggle to cope with extremely low temperatures.

“About 4,000 buildings in Kyiv have no heating at a time when temperatures are extremely low,” Zelensky wrote on X, adding that problems are also being reported in Kharkiv, the Sumy region, and Chernihiv.

Many residents of Kyiv are living in freezing apartments, with electricity available for only a few hours a day — and sometimes not at all. The attacks were carried out using missiles and drones against the power distribution network.

Temperatures at -12 degrees Celsius

The temperature this morning in the Ukrainian capital was minus 12 degrees Celsius, although it is expected to rise slightly in the afternoon.

Some residents report on social media that they have been without electricity and heating for more than a day.

In the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine, where the energy system was also heavily bombed, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said that 520,000 consumers remain without electricity today, compared with one million residents who were in the same situation on Tuesday. He added that the region’s energy infrastructure was again targeted by attacks today.

Problems also in Odesa

In the Odesa region of southern Ukraine, energy company DTEK said that one of its facilities suffered serious damage in the morning, leaving thousands of households without power.

Even when electricity is partially restored to homes, residents face frequent outages throughout most of the day, as a significant portion of Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity has been taken offline by Moscow’s attacks.

Power cuts have also severely affected Ukraine’s mobile phone services, with the CEO of Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, Kyivstar, saying that just under 10% of the company’s network was not functioning.