'No light, no water, no heat': Ukrainians struggle with blackouts as Russia hits power grid

Figure caption, Watch: Life in the darkness during Ukraine's blackouts

Daryna Kulchytska is a mum under pressure. A single parent in a seventh floor flat in Kyiv trying to feed two lively kids and ensure they do their homework. But Daryna also faces the added strain of a deadline she can't even be certain of.

"The last few days it was only four or five hours we had power, but it's not at the same times. For two hours we have electricity, then for eight hours we don't."

As peace talks continue, with US envoys meeting the Russian and Ukrainian leaders on Thursday, Ukrainians are facing a rolling schedule of planned power cuts because of intensified Russian attacks on their energy grid. Ukraine has responded by striking Russian oil refineries.

Officials are concerned that life will quickly become unsustainable for millions of Ukrainians if power supplies cannot be maintained for at least four hours per day. Some privately warn that's close already, as some families are living with outages of up to 20 hours in Kyiv.

The power cuts were introduced earlier this year than last winter, and they're already lasting longer - making homes like Daryna's darker and colder. She's wrapped in layers of clothing and a heavy coat - the temperature is dropping, indoors and out.

Just before 7:30pm, there's a click and that's it - darkness until dawn.

The lift doesn't work, the water will stop flowing because electricity is needed to pump it to their flat. So the torches and LED candles come out and Daryna, her son Kyryll and daughter Olena gather for a card game of Uno before an early night.

Twelve-year-old Kyryll, speaking perfect English learned during two years living in the US, is frank about the disruption.

"There's no light, no water, no heat, no electricity. And no fun. All the fun got sucked out with the electricity," he says. "We have a lot of board games. We have a whole shelf, but we've played them like a hundred thousand times already."

Many families sit in the shadows as blackouts sweep entire neighbourhoods, smothering homes and streets in darkness.

"You look outside and sometimes you see nothing. You have a big city around but you see nothing because there's no light," Daryna says.

Kyiv has been worst hit - its metro trains and trolleybuses at times brought to a standstill. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have gone without power in recent weeks.

We saw why on a visit to one of Ukraine's largest power stations, barely standing after a recent ballistic missile strike - the most powerful and devastating attack of Russia's campaign against Ukrainian energy targets.

Image source, Matthew Goddard Image caption, Damaged parts from the power plant lie scattered on the ground

The enormous plant - which we've been asked not to name for security reasons - has been reduced to a pile of twisted metal and broken pipes, its turbines buried in rubble, taking the site completely off line.

Volodymyr Kovalenko was on duty in the control room keeping the plant working when the missiles hit at 3am.

"It was a very powerful attack. We'd never experienced anything like it. We'd had strikes before – part of the roof had collapsed, it was pretty grim. But this time it was particularly severe."

Kovalenko, who followed in his parents' footsteps and has worked at the site for 25 years, says the damage is heartbreaking, though he's confident it can be repaired.

But the work is being hampered by air raids every 15-30 minutes – seven times during our four-hour visit. Each warning of drones and further missiles forces teams to down tools and dive for cover, though during our visit all were shot down or flew on towards other targets.

If there isn't time to reach the site's main shelter, the workers hide in the foundations of its towering chimneys.

"It's very difficult," says Vadym Bobyr, who is leading the recovery effort. "You've mentally prepared yourself to do a particular job, and then… the air raid siren goes off, and you have to get out as quickly as possible."

The 39-year-old, who has worked here half his life, is dwarfed by the mangled ruins and daunted by the challenge of rebuilding the plant.

"It's emotionally difficult, because we've already repaired all this, got it running again, and now it's happened all over again. It hurts, but we keep working and getting things done."

As we speak there's another alert - an incoming Banderol cruise missile.

The workers dart through the maze of passages and pipework but there isn't time to reach a shelter - one of the plant's thickest walls will have to do for cover. The missile was eventually intercepted 5km (3 miles) away.

Image source, Matthew Goddard Image caption, The mangled wreckage of the Ukrainian power plant is still smouldering

Energy workers are at enormous risk. Since August there have been almost daily attacks on power facilities, claiming several lives every week. And it's getting more dangerous.

On the edge of the site, with the latest threat over, a team returns to reinstating the power lines feeding the national grid. But they won't be carrying electricity from the shattered plant before the end of this winter, at least.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine still has enough generating capacity to meet electricity demand - the problem is getting it to homes and businesses when so many power lines and substations have been hit. Russia is using "waiter drones" that cling to pylons and cables and go undetected until Russia decides to detonate them.

Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said Russia was already putting the degraded electricity grid under even greater pressure than last year, and that overstretched air defences were unable to protect all of Ukraine's critical infrastructure.

"What is different is the scale of attacks and the different types of weapons used in these attacks. This is what is the difference - they've doubled in power and in scale".

He said rebuilding the damaged power station would take at least until next summer, because workers under sustained attack were limited to only one or two productive hours per day.

"We are fighting for survival of not only the whole country but ordinary people, especially during winter," Timchenko says.

Image source, Matthew Goddard Image caption, Volodymyr Kovalenko has worked at the power station for 25 years

Kovalenko echoes the sense of mission about trying to keep the lights on. "Energy is the foundation of everything - people's lives, the state. Nothing can function without it. I've dedicated my entire life to this".

Many are choosing to leave the capital, or Ukraine altogether, to avoid months of bitter cold. Daryna, Kyryll and Olena know the winter has barely begun.

"It's the worst feeling," Kyryll says. "When I get home from school, I'm tired. I lay in my bed. Bam! Air alarm. Bam! No lights. Bam! A lot of homework. Bam!"

When the children are in bed Daryna confides her thoughts of moving to somewhere safer, or warmer. She's torn by the desire to stay at home - close to friends and relatives - and the worry of how unbearable life may become.

The strain is damaging her mental health, she tells me, and she fears the impact on Kyryll and Olena, who suffers nightmares. Still, Daryna remains defiant despite the darkness.

"I don't want to live without light. But actually people in Ukraine say, OK, without light, but without Russians. Yes, we're scared, we're scared a lot. But better for us to be without power, but [also] without Russians."

Additional reporting by Anastasiia Levchenko, Kamila Hrabchuk and Daniel Wittenberg

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