Cold and Under Shelling: Children in Kyiv Brace for Harsh Winter
Amid constant shelling, damaged homes and a lack of heating and electricity, children in Kyiv are forced to study, live and prepare for winter in the midst of war, dreaming of safety and warmth.
- Українська
- English
Every day after school, 12-year-old Kostya settles on the sofa in his old apartment without taking off his jacket. Here, with a flashlight tucked under his chin, he completes his homework while trying to keep warm. His desk is warped from the shelling and the water firefighters used to extinguish the blaze in the building. Since the attack in August, when Kostya had to rescue his beloved ginger dog Irene and bandage his injured grandmother's leg, his home has lost the safety, comfort and warmth it once had.
"A missile hit our building, and my neighbors were killed. We were told we wouldn't be able to live here for several years because the roof was damaged and caught fire. In our apartment, a section of the wall collapsed onto my dad's head," Kostya says, gesturing to the ruins around him that, just last summer, were part of his normal life.
The family is currently renting another apartment, but it is far from his school. So after classes, he returns to his damaged home to do his homework and wait for his father to finish work so they can travel to the temporary rented apartment together.
"In the new apartment, the power often goes out, and there is frequently no water. And there's no heating in either place," says Kostya, bundled up in a warm jacket, a hat, and two pairs of gloves. When he walks Irene outside or does homework in the unheated apartment, his hands get particularly cold.
Power outages, lack of steady heating and water supply, constant air raid alerts, attacks, and life-threatening danger—this is the reality for children living in Kyiv this season. For children in Ukraine, approaching winter once meant New Year celebrations, school holidays, and the joy of sledding in the snow. But war has transformed what should be a season of wonder and adventure into a struggle for warmth, safety, and survival.
"I Dream of Living in a Country Where It Is Always Hot"
There are 24 students in Kostya's class, but he cannot remember the last time he saw all his classmates together. Some of the children moved out of the city due to continuous shelling, while others are regularly sick because of the cold.
"The lesson just starts, we sit at our desks, and then the siren sounds, and we go down to the shelter. Then the all-clear sounds, and we go back up to the classroom. As soon as we sit back down, the siren sounds again. This can happen up to four times in just a few hours," says Kostya, describing his typical school day.
His school in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district was also damaged during a large-scale attack in August. But while the school was repaired before the start of the academic year, his apartment building was not as fortunate.
All the windows of the apartment building are covered with plywood sheets. "We won't get heating this year because the pipes were shattered by the explosion," says Kostya, helping his father, Dmytro, gather more of their belongings to move to the new apartment.
When talking about his dreams, Kostya admits that in the future he would like to live in a country where there is no winter.
"Somewhere where it's always sunny and summer all year round," Kostya adds, putting on his warm gloves and taking the leash of his ginger dog playing at his feet.
"The Windows in My Brother's and My Bedroom Have Been Blown Out for the Third Time"
14-year-old Ilgar and his younger brother, 10-year-old Yusif, have never met Kostya. But they also know what it is like to wake up to explosions and see the shattered windows of their bedroom once again.
This weekend, a missile hit the five-story building where the boys' family lives.
"We were in the shelter near our house with our mother, but even down there underground, we felt the shockwave pass through us. Only when we came outside did we see that our building was on fire, and the first-floor apartments were simply gone," says 14-year-old Ilgar.
In his apartment, the windows were blown out, the door was damaged by the blast, and the computer he and his brother used for schoolwork fell off the desk and broke.
"This is the third time this year our windows have been blown out by an explosion. My brother and I get very scared every time," the boy adds.
Dressed in warm clothes, Ilgar and Yusif help their grandmother clean up the apartment while their parents look for plastic sheeting and plywood to cover the window openings. It is already cold inside, and there is no heating or reliable power supply.
So instead of studying or playing, the boys spend these days trying to clear dirt and glass fragments from their belongings and toys. "Mom cut her hands on broken glass. But we were all lucky—we all survived," says Ilgar, standing by the broken window.
