You can't leave, you can't stay. Residents of Kyiv are choosing between voluntary evacuation and another winter in the city under fire.
Against the backdrop of intensifying Russian shelling, Ukrainian citizens are preparing for another difficult winter: once again they face not only missile and drone strikes, but also long-term power outages and heating.
“Last winter in Kyiv was very difficult,” says Maria Shostak, a mother of two who is now packing up her small apartment to leave the city.
Due to prolonged frosts and frequent power outages following Russian attacks on the power grid, last winter was one of the most difficult for Ukraine.
“There were days and weeks that were simply unbearable. I thought that I would not survive another winter like this,” says Maria.
She decided not to wait for the cold weather. After the latest Russian attacks on Kyiv, she decided to leave the city.
“Everything changed at the end of August and beginning of September, when Kyiv began to be attacked around the clock,” she recalls. — Previously, drones and missiles were intercepted somewhere on the outskirts. Now it began to happen in the center, right above our heads.”
After weeks of intensifying Russian attacks that by late September had hit gas stations, power plants and key bridges over the Dnieper River, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city was in a “very dramatic situation.”
On October 9, he called on Kiev residents who have relatives outside the city to temporarily leave the capital if possible.
Both of Maria's children, four-year-old Arthur and two-year-old Kira, were born after the full-scale Russian invasion began in 2022.
Not wanting to subject them to another difficult winter in Kyiv, she takes them abroad. They plan to spend the winter in Hurghada, on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. It’s cheaper there than in Europe, and it’s warmer, Maria explains.
“I don’t feel safe at all in Ukraine,” she says.
Polls show that many people in 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 found that 40% of Ukrainians are considering moving if living conditions continue to deteriorate; 35% said they do not intend to move, and 25% were undecided.
“People evaluate a combination of stress factors,” says Evgenia Bliznyuk, founder and CEO of Gradus. “We’re not just talking about power supply and [communications] outages like last winter. The Russians are attacking large logistics centers, which means that people are worried about goods, about food for the winter.”
Recent Russian strikes on Kyiv bridges, gas stations and schools have heightened the sense of danger and anxiety.
For families with small children the situation is especially difficult.
Irina, who asked that her last name not be used, says that last winter it was very difficult for her three-year-old daughter Polina.
“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 only worsened the child's condition.
“This year we were hit by missiles twice,” says Irina.
The first explosion in early June blew out the windows of a family's home on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv. A month later - after partial repairs - a second explosion at the foot of their ten-story building covered the apartment with earth, which is why the family had to move to temporary housing.
Polina's health has deteriorated. She suffers from severe anxiety, which causes episodes of incontinence, vomiting and uncontrollable tremors.
“Now she has this neurological problem, and that’s why we are thinking about leaving,” says Irina. “After each attack, new symptoms appear.”
Irina, whose husband serves in the army, has not yet decided where to go. Her position with an international NGO may allow her to work remotely from Poland.
“Our president says it’s better to leave Kyiv, because that’s goal number one,” she says.
For other residents of Kyiv, the solution lies closer to home: in the vast expanses of the country, in one of the Ukrainian villages.
Elena Konoplya says that she searched for a suitable place for several weeks before choosing a house in the countryside, located two hours away from the capital.
“I decided that the best option would be a small village where there are no factories, no [warehouses], no railway stations,” explains Elena. “Nothing that could become a target for Russia.”
On the day of our visit, Elena was busy delivering supplies to the house and supervising the installation of a new door.
According to Ukrainian tradition, the new home has already been blessed by a priest.
The house has gas convection heaters, but there is firewood in the neighboring shed that will help Elena stay warm in the event of a power outage. She has already connected to the high-speed Internet necessary for her work at a Kiev charitable foundation.
At a time when air raid sirens are constantly ringing in Kyiv, and explosions are heard almost every day, the peace and quiet of the village is 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 feel good.”
Soon Elena will be joined by her elderly mother.
“She lives in a rather dangerous area of Kyiv, and this is harmful to her health,” she explains.
Of course, not everyone can afford a country house or a multi-month trip abroad. Most Kiev residents will do everything in their power to survive another harsh winter in the capital, as before.
However, talk from energy workers about planned power outages and disruptions in the supply of a number of products in supermarkets only strengthens the incentive to leave.
Evgenia Bliznyuk believes that a mass exodus of residents from Kyiv is not planned, and most people do not yet want to leave their jobs or take their children out of school.
“They will put it off until the living conditions become absolutely unbearable,” she says.
