Long power cuts hit Kyiv households as winter approaches

Daryna Kulchytska, a single mother in Kyiv, told the BBC that her household had electricity for only four or five hours a day in the days before its visit. “For two hours we have electricity, then for eight hours we don’t,” she said.

When the power went out during the visit, Kulchytska and her two children used torches and LED candles. Their experience is one household’s account, rather than a measure of outages across the capital.

In the surrounding Kyiv region, a schedule published by local outlet Proslav planned 13 hours without electricity on 12 November for two of 12 groups of customers. The outlet warned that the timetable could change and would not apply during emergency outages.

The BBC also visited a badly damaged power station that was completely out of service, with its turbines buried under rubble. The broadcaster did not name the site for security reasons. During its four-hour visit, seven air-raid warnings forced repair teams to interrupt their work and take cover.

Maxim Timchenko, chief executive of energy company DTEK, told the BBC that rebuilding the plant would take at least until summer 2027. He said the continuing threat of attack was limiting the time available for repairs.

Russia has repeatedly struck Ukrainian energy facilities, leaving households without power. Some residents are preparing to remain in Kyiv through the winter: Kateryna Tymoshenko told Associated Press that she had stocked up on power banks, and an AP photograph showed her children playing during a blackout on 9 November.