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Марія БровінськаWar
30 January 2026, 13:01
2026-01-30
"The steam is still coming out of my mouth." How Troyeshchyna lives without electricity, heat, and stable water, and why residents of high-rise buildings are advised to pour salt into toilets
This winter, the capital’s Troyeshchyna district is living in a mode that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. After massive attacks on the energy infrastructure, the district is regularly left without electricity, heating, and water — sometimes for several hours, sometimes for a day or longer. The outage schedules are practically non-functional, the temperature in the apartments is rapidly dropping, and residents are forced to look for ways to survive in the city’s cold, realizing that there may be no electricity or heating for weeks.
Severe frosts are about to return to Ukraine, and the Troyes region risks facing a new challenge — freezing sewers. The head of the Desnyanskaya RDA, Maksym Bakhmatov, warned: if the sewers in high-rise buildings freeze, people will have to equip cesspools in their yards. His words seemed like an exaggeration to many, but the events of recent days have forced the residents of the Troyes region to look at such scenarios without irony. At the same time, some of the houses have already been connected to heating. This constantly adds challenges — it tears out old pipes, but at the same time it gives hope for warmth and relief.
Between these two poles — the fear of complete collapse and the joy of warm radiators — the daily life of the residents of the district passes. dev.ua talked to IT workers and a digital specialist who, despite the harsh conditions of survival, do not plan to leave their native microdistrict for now and are adapting to the harsh realities. About cold apartments, dark entrances, electric heaters, sleeping bags, mutual aid and creative ways of survival — further.
This winter, the capital’s Troyeshchyna district is living in a mode that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. After massive attacks on the energy infrastructure, the district is regularly left without electricity, heating, and water — sometimes for several hours, sometimes for a day or longer. The outage schedules are practically non-functional, the temperature in the apartments is rapidly dropping, and residents are forced to look for ways to survive in the city’s cold, realizing that there may be no electricity or heating for weeks.
Severe frosts are about to return to Ukraine, and the Troyes region risks facing a new challenge — freezing sewers. The head of the Desnyanskaya RDA, Maksym Bakhmatov, warned: if the sewers in high-rise buildings freeze, people will have to equip cesspools in their yards. His words seemed like an exaggeration to many, but the events of recent days have forced the residents of the Troyes region to look at such scenarios without irony. At the same time, some of the houses have already been connected to heating. This constantly adds challenges — it tears out old pipes, but at the same time it gives hope for warmth and relief.
Between these two poles — the fear of complete collapse and the joy of warm radiators — the daily life of the residents of the district passes. dev.ua talked to IT workers and a digital specialist who, despite the harsh conditions of survival, do not plan to leave their native microdistrict for now and are adapting to the harsh realities. About cold apartments, dark entrances, electric heaters, sleeping bags, mutual aid and creative ways of survival — further.
«In general, you can live, the steam is not coming out of your mouth yet»
«Our house was without electricity for about 10 hours, then the power was turned on for a short time. The heating went out after the last shelling and never came back on. The inconvenience is extremely uncomfortable, especially for families with small children, the elderly and those with health problems,» says a resident of a high-rise building in a long-suffering powerless area. The lack of elevators and water creates additional difficulties, he adds.
«I don’t know whether we receive any help or not, because we have a condominium association, and it’s good that we elected the head based on professional qualities. The most help we get from our condominium association is batteries, solar panels, and constant monitoring (as far as it is possible now) of our needs,» says a Kyiv resident who lives in a modern building.
He uses electric heaters to heat the apartment, trying to warm the children’s room as much as possible.
«Warm clothes, sometimes more than one. In general, you can live, the steam from your mouth is not coming out yet,» the AIT resident adds ironically.
Our interlocutor has water for domestic needs: they installed a battery system for pumping water to the upper floors. «But there are nuances with starting the system, because constant power outages lead to malfunctions. Now we are sitting without water, the pumps have not started, we are waiting for them to restart manually. The sewage system is working (God forbid we live like bad neighbors and go to the yard, to the booths),» he says.
The specialist says that he has small power plants (300-600 W) and uninterruptible power supplies for fiber-optic Internet. «The Internet works without electricity for up to 10 hours. We cover the minimum lighting needs,» he admits.
The resident emphasizes: «Life had to be rebuilt according to the situation. At work I use a laptop (need for electricity), I also teach my children remotely with a laptop, and now everything is electricity. Because developing countries use a lot of electricity, unlike our neighbors, who are ready to live by candlelight, ride horses, and generally live their lives senselessly (cry of the soul). The most acute problem in winter is heating. But if there is stable electricity (because recently there have been very big jumps up and down, the automation works as protection), then heating can be replaced with electric.»
Aitivets says that the most supportive thing for residents today would be a sensible leadership of both the microdistrict and Kyiv as a whole. «The war has been going on for four years, and it’s no secret that the Russians are weak-willed and can destroy critical infrastructure. But nothing has been done. Instead of changing curbs, paving slabs, and painting bumpers on the roads, we should have protected the CHP. I understand that when you get used to stealing, it becomes a habit, but these are people, women, children… We need to think about the future. And today, just use the help provided by other regions wisely so that it benefits the population, and not just stands there rusting,» he notes.
«When we came to get aviation kerosene, they said it was out of fuel»
«This is the third time that the heating has been turned off due to attacks. This time, the group of the house owner of our condominium wrote that the heating should not wait until the new season, because the TPP-6 is completely destroyed,» says a specialist who lives in the Troyeshchyna region in an 80-90-year-old concrete house, where many residents are «Chernobyl residents.» In general, the house, according to her, has poor insulation, is poorly insulated, and the heating is completely electric.
There was no water for half a day after the last shelling — it was provided on Saturday. According to her, there was no electricity or heating for a day now (last time — for 30 hours in a row).
To prevent the pipes from freezing, utility workers drained the water from the heating system, and the apartments began to cool rapidly. «-12, -10, -5.0 °C every half hour. But on Sunday there was more light and we were able to turn on the electric heaters,» the specialist shares.
The resident says that in the local «Epicenter» — people are sweeping up electric heaters of all brands and configurations, kerosene, small tourist gas cylinders. «When we came for aviation kerosene, they said — it’s over,» she said.
However, our interlocutor says, a new trouble has arisen: electrical networks, switchboards and transformers cannot cope with the load and have started to burn. Household appliances are also burning due to voltage surges. «While I was going to the point of invincibility, the refrigerator was in the trash,» she says.
«It’s impossible to call an ambulance. The neighbors across the park haven’t had electricity for four days, and to attract the attention of emergency services, people have blocked the road and called the police,» she says.
Meanwhile, in houses where water was not drained in time and insulation was poor, pipes began to burst and basements flooded. Others urgently closed basements with foam plastic and whatever they could, because frosts could freeze the sewers. «Maxim Bakhmatov warned that in case of freezing, we would have to dig toilets outside,» says a resident of Troyeschyna.
According to her, home remedies are advised to pour two spoons of salt into the toilet, heat the water, and pour it into the bathtub overnight. «Neighbors buy ‘casings’ for pipes, warm themselves with gas heaters or sleeping bags,» she says.
Despite the hardship, residents are setting up «points of invincibility» for cats. «There are many cats in the basements of houses. Now people are completely closing the vents in many houses. That is, cats will no longer get into the basement in -20 degrees, or they will not get out of it and die of hunger,» explains the interlocutor of dev.ua.
This is how they close all the holes in basements.
However, even such conditions do not force residents to flee. «Visually, not many people left our building, about 15–20%,» says the interlocutor of dev.ua.
According to her, despite the complexity of the situation, there are also bright moments: large tents are being set up for heating, hot food, and exercise, and social workers are visiting people with limited mobility.
«Neighbors help: they walk around the floors, heat them with boiling water, and give their thermoses to the elderly,» the specialist notes.
By the way, yesterday the heating was partially restored to the houses. «Yes, it’s tearing the pipes in some places, but at the same time it’s a joy. Maybe we’ll have heat after all,» the resident concludes.
«I pitched a small tent in the apartment»
A developer for one of the Ukrainian IT companies lives on the 6th floor of a high-rise building in Troyeshchyna. He has a dog, so he has to go outside sometimes, which helps him assess the situation.
«There has been no light, water, or heating in the house for over two days. But I have learned to survive even in such extreme conditions — I set up a small tent in the apartment where I sleep and work. It is warmer there than in the entire apartment, and you can save energy,» he says, hugging his dog close to him.
The room is almost completely dark in the evening. An LED lamp, a garland of warm light, and a headlamp help you not to get lost in space. «It’s freezing outside, you can hear the wind rustling, and sometimes you can hear the distant sounds of sirens or generator motors,» says the IT worker.
Even cold air seeps through the old windows, and every movement makes the wooden floor creak.
«It’s almost impossible to plan anything for the day. Everything is set up for when there’s electricity. But if there are a few hours of light, you can work, heat water, and even cook a hot meal,» he says.
He currently codes on a laptop that lasts 7-8 hours. «I turned off the second monitor so that I had enough power to work. Without light, even charging the equipment is a small victory,» he adds with a smile.
He gets his food through restaurants («Puzata Hata», Epicenter) or through delivery. To wash up, he goes to the gym, where he can use hot water. «Even in this situation, I haven’t started going to the office more often. The journey through the sometimes snowy streets takes more time than the entire working day,» says the specialist.
The dog has also adapted: he warms himself in the tent, and walks are reduced to a minimum due to the cold and lack of light. «My dog was nervous at first because of the darkness, but now he understands that the tent is our little fortress,» the owner smiles.
How to stay warm when the house has no heating or electricity, the water has been drained from the system, and the restoration time is unknown: 7 useful life hacks
Businesses have become real points of invincibility for Kyiv residents. Restaurants, shops, gas stations, shopping malls, and post offices invite you to warm up and recharge. In communal «points of invincibility,» people often just throw up their hands.
