“Families have resorted to using soft toys to plug windows against the freezing cold,” said Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Country Representative in Ukraine.
This warning comes after reported attacks on power infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, leaving many residential areas without electricity and heat.
The cold threat from these attacks has become a national emergency alongside the war, Mr. Mammadzade told journalists in Geneva.
With temperatures at -15°C (5°F) in Kyiv, the UNICEF official cautioned that it might get colder next week, while millions live without heat, electricity, or water.
“Children and families are constantly in survival mode,” he said.
Aid Shift
While focus has been on frontline areas, constant strikes on urban infrastructure highlight complex needs among those in apartment blocks.
This includes Kyiv resident Svitlana, trying to care for her daughter, Adina, on the 10th floor. “She had no heat or electricity for over three days, and that was early in the disruption – now we’re in the second or third week,” Mr. Mammadzade said.
Reflecting Kyiv’s situation, Jaime Wah from the IFRC noted previous power restorations in Kharkiv and Odesa were quick, but in Kyiv, outages are sustained, affecting more people.
Nearly four years into the conflict, “children’s lives revolve around survival, not childhood,” UNICEF’s Mr. Mammadzade said, noting an 11% rise in child casualties in 2025 from the previous year.
The agency supports vulnerable city residents with communal tents for warmth, play, and other needs.
Families seek warmth and support inside a mobile tent during a winter power outage in Kyiv, Ukraine.
“Svitlana can’t bathe Arina or cook hot food, so she layers her child in clothes and navigates 10 dark floors to reach a tent set up by Ukraine’s State Emergency Services,” Mr. Mammadzade explained. “There, they can warm up, eat hot food, charge devices, and meet with a psychologist, or just sit warmly.”
UNICEF warns that children are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of cold and darkness, which can heighten fear and stress and exacerbate health conditions.
“The youngest are most at risk,” Mr. Mammadzade stated. “Newborns and infants lose body heat fast, risking hypothermia and respiratory illness, which can quickly become life-threatening without proper warmth and care.”
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