Kyiv heating crisis after Russian strike leaves over 1,000 blocks without heat

More than 1,000 apartment buildings in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, remain without heating after a Russian missile strike earlier this week, local authorities said on Sunday, as freezing temperatures grip the city.

The strike on Friday knocked out electricity and heating across large parts of Kyiv during a sharp cold snap. Officials said water supplies were restored by Sunday, but electricity and heating had only been partially reconnected.

Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy system since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022, repeatedly targeting power and heating infrastructure as winter sets in.

With temperatures already below minus 12C and forecast to fall to around minus 20C later this week, Ukraine is bracing for what could be the coldest and darkest winter of the war, now in its fourth year.

Damage to the grid has pushed utilities close to breaking point.

"Restoration work is ongoing. However, the energy supply situation in the capital remains very difficult," Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klitschko said on Telegram.

"According to forecasts, the severe frosts are not expected to subside in the coming days. Therefore, the difficult situation in the capital will continue," he added.

Ukraine’s energy ministry said Russian forces carried out further overnight attacks on the power system, briefly cutting electricity to parts of the south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region and Zaporizhzhia region.

"Not a single day passed this week without attacks on energy facilities and critical infrastructure. A total of 44 attacks were recorded," Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Telegram.

• Kyiv scrambles to repair ruined power grid after Russian attack

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