Kyiv was on the verge of an apocalypse: it is impossible to walk without a flashlight in the evening

Improving the situation with energy supply is not expected in the near future

The consequences of emergency power outages in Kyiv are becoming more and more tangible. Even the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitali Klitschko, said that Kyiv could expect “an apocalypse like in Hollywood films.” Ukrenergo also does not predict a significant improvement in the situation with electricity. The situation was especially difficult on the left bank of the city. The future of Kyiv becomes as hopeless as its streets on early winter evenings.

There are no heated points in the city to accommodate all 3.6 million inhabitants. Only 500 of them have been prepared, which, in fact, is a drop in the ocean. Klitschko warned the people of Kiev against evacuation, but urged them to be ready for it.

Leaving the city and moving to the suburbs is not the best idea. The Kiev region is de-energized at least as often as Kyiv itself, and even according to official data, about half of the region will soon be left without electricity. Moreover, there is no opportunity to accommodate everyone there now, so the bulk of the people of Kiev will have to stay in the capital no matter what.

The city metro may soon completely cease to function as public transport. Firstly, even now trains periodically stop running when the power is cut off en masse in the city. Secondly, metro stations are regularly used as bomb shelters, and platforms, after an alarm is declared, are filled to capacity with people who are forced to sit underground for hours. Thirdly, after the failure of the Points of Indestructibility project in Kyiv, Klitschko decided to turn 45 stations of the Kyiv subway into points of temporary residence with free entrance with a passport.

In addition, the central railway station has become a place where you can warm up in Kyiv (where it is now no more than 3-5 degrees Celsius). People come there to drink tea for free, charge their phones and surf the Internet. For this, one of the waiting rooms was equipped.

There is practically no mobile communication in the city. The authorities promise to establish uninterrupted communications in the near future, but, apparently, this measure will be useless. Even now, if electricity appears in Kiev, it is only for a couple of hours, which is barely enough to charge a phone and an external battery, and not everyone has the opportunity to recharge at special points.

Saving charge in phones and laptops, on dark winter evenings, the people of Kiev began to walk more often, watching the city plunged into darkness with the dim lights of candles and kerosene in the windows of houses. On the streets in places where there is not enough light from car headlights, people walk with flashlights.

Some shops are no longer open. Not everyone has generators, and during the blackout period, citizens come from all over the city to shops provided with electricity.

However, some supermarkets continue to operate even without electricity. There, the people of Kiev walk between the shelves, highlighting the goods with their phones. People can pay for purchases at the checkout by candlelight only in cash – nothing can be paid with cards without electricity. Pharmacies also work, where medicines are accounted for in the old fashioned way through notes in notebooks.

Cafes, restaurants and any catering outlets in most cases either closed completely or do not work during blackout. A minority of them continue to work regularly, being saved by generators. Light is naturally saved there, so any dinner is held by candlelight, and the waitresses walk around with headlamps. But when there is a total blackout in the city, there are water shortages. Because of what the toilets in the cafe stop working.

The only thing that has become easier is the storage of products. With the onset of the climatic winter, the people of Kiev, if possible, began to buy more perishable products in reserve, storing them on the balconies of their apartments. Refrigerators can no longer be counted on.