"To leave or to stay." Kyiv residents choose between voluntary evacuation and another winter in the city under shelling
Amidst the intensification of Russian shelling, residents of Ukrainian cities are preparing for another difficult winter: they are once again threatened not only by missile and drone strikes, but also by prolonged power and heating outages, writes the BBC.
"Last winter in Kyiv was very difficult," says Maria Shostak, a mother of two who is now packing her belongings in her small apartment to leave the city.
Due to prolonged frosts and frequent power outages after Russian strikes on the energy system, last winter was one of the toughest for Ukraine.
"There were days and weeks that were simply unbearable. I thought I wouldn't survive another winter like that," says Maria.
She decided not to wait for the cold. After the latest Russian attacks on Kyiv, she made the decision to leave the city.
"Everything changed in late August and early September, when Kyiv began to be attacked around the clock," she recalls. "Previously, drones and missiles were intercepted somewhere on the outskirts. Now it started happening in the center, right above our heads."
After several weeks of intensified Russian attacks, which by the end of September affected gas stations, power plants, and key bridges across the Dnieper, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated that the city was in a "very dramatic situation."
On October 9, he urged Kyiv residents who have relatives outside the city to temporarily leave the capital if possible.
Both of Maria's children — four-year-old Artur and two-year-old Kira — were born after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
Unwilling to subject them to another difficult winter in Kyiv, she will take them abroad.
They plan to spend the winter in Hurghada, on the Red Sea coast in Egypt. It's cheaper than in Europe, and warmer, Maria explains.
"I don't feel safe at all in Ukraine," she says.
Surveys show that many residents of the country feel the same way, even if not everyone has made such a radical decision yet.
A survey conducted in September by the research company "Gradus" showed that 40% of Ukrainian residents are considering moving if living conditions continue to deteriorate; 35% stated they do not intend to move, and 25% could not answer.
"People are evaluating the totality of stress factors," says Yevheniya Bliznyuk, founder and CEO of "Gradus." "It's not just about electricity supply and communication outages, like last winter. Russians are striking large logistics centers, which means people are worried about goods, about food for the winter."
Recent Russian strikes on Kyiv's bridges, gas stations, and schools have heightened the sense of danger and anxiety.
For families with small children, the situation is particularly difficult.
Irina, who asked not to disclose her surname, says that last winter her three-year-old daughter Polina had a very hard time.
"Sometimes we had no heating for weeks, and the temperature in the apartment was zero or five degrees," she says. "So being here with a small child who is constantly sick was unbearable."
The family's recent experiences have only worsened the child's condition.
"This year we were hit twice by missile strikes," says Irina.
The first explosion in early June blew out the windows in the family's house on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv. A month later — after partial repairs — a second explosion near their ten-story building covered the apartment in dirt, forcing the family to move to temporary housing.
Polina's health deteriorated. She suffers from severe anxiety, which causes episodes of urinary incontinence, vomiting, and uncontrollable tremors.
"Now she has developed this neurological problem, and that's why we are thinking about leaving," says Irina. "After every shelling, new symptoms appear."
Irina, whose husband serves in the army, has not yet decided where to go. Her position in an international non-governmental organization may allow her to work remotely from Poland.
"Our president says it's better to leave Kyiv because it's target number one," she says.
For other Kyiv residents, the solution is closer to home: in the endless expanses of the country, in one of the Ukrainian villages.
Elena Konoplya says that she searched for several weeks for a suitable place before settling on a house in the countryside, located two hours' drive from the capital.
"I decided that the best option would be a small village where there are no factories, no warehouses, no railway stations," Elena explains. "Nothing that could become a target for Russia."
On the day of the visit, Elena was busy delivering supplies to the house and overseeing the installation of new doors.
According to Ukrainian tradition, the new home has already been blessed by a priest.
The house has gas convection heaters installed, but there is firewood in the adjacent shed to help Elena stay warm in case of a power outage. She has already connected high-speed internet, necessary for her work at a Kyiv charitable foundation.
At a time when air raid sirens constantly blare in Kyiv, and explosions are heard almost daily, the quiet and calm of the village are what Elena says she needs most.
"After spending a few nights here, where I can just sleep without hearing any explosions or sirens, I feel better," she says. "I can work, write my articles, I'm good."
Elena will soon be joined by her elderly mother.
"She lives in a rather dangerous area of Kyiv, and it's harming her health," she explains.
Of course, not everyone can afford a dacha outside the city or a multi-month trip abroad. Most Kyiv residents will do everything in their power to survive another harsh winter in the capital, as before.
Authorities are taking steps to prepare for this. Some of Kyiv's most vulnerable residents – the elderly and women with small children – are offered accommodation in re-equipped sanatoriums and rehabilitation centers located in forested suburbs.
Meanwhile, over the past year and a half, a network of approximately 15 small power plants has been built around the city, designed to strengthen Kyiv's energy system, which has suffered from previous strikes.
Each of these stations, built in fortified bunkers and protected from drone attacks by massive steel grilles, is capable of supplying electricity and heat to several hundred multi-story residential buildings.
However, discussions by energy companies about planned power outages and disruptions in the supply of several products in supermarkets only amplify the incentives to leave.
Yevheniya Bliznyuk believes that a mass exodus of residents from Kyiv is not foreseen, and most people are not yet willing to leave their jobs or take their children out of school.
"They will postpone it until living conditions become absolutely unbearable," she says.
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