July ‒ shelling, blackouts and record heat

On July 8, there was one of the largest massive rocket attacks on Kyiv in terms of casualties since the start of the full-scale invasion. The powerful explosions, which shook buildings and the ground beneath them, were felt throughout the city. People, frightened, lay on the ground, covering their heads with their hands. However, Ukrainians have become accustomed to shelling, and the recent fear quickly turned to outrage when it was revealed that the shelling deliberately destroyed and damaged the buildings of Europe’s largest children’s hospital, Okhmatdyt. Almost 20,000 children are treated at Okhmatdyt annually. The missile completely destroyed the toxicology building and damaged four others; 10 surgical departments, five oncology departments, two somatic departments, intensive care, two resuscitation units, operating units, radiology and radiation therapy departments, and part of the oncohematological laboratory (the only one in Ukraine) were affected. At the time of the attack, three heart surgeries were being performed in the Center for Pediatric Cardiac Surgery. As a result of the shelling, the windows of the Center were shattered, causing contamination of the patients’ chest cavities. In an instant, the hospital lost electricity, oxygen, and water, forcing children to be urgently evacuated to other medical facilities. According to the Security Service of Ukraine, Russia deliberately targeted the children’s medical facility with an X-101 missile. In response to this tragedy, thousands of concerned Ukrainians united their efforts to rebuild the hospital as quickly as possible, and within just two days, in addition to the 100 million provided by the state, an additional 200 million hryvnias were raised in charitable donations.

However, the lack of electricity and water was not confined to Okhmatdyt. The cause of this was not only the shelling. This summer, electricity is being cut off due to the planned maintenance of nuclear power plant units. Other healthcare facilities have also faced challenges due to the abnormal heat for Ukraine and the energy shortage. According to Ukraine’s Chief State Sanitary Doctor, Ihor Kuzin, the Ministry of Health’s primary task is to ensure the autonomy of all medical institutions: equipping facilities with their own boilers, wells, and power generators. Some may wonder, “Why?” All healthcare facilities are critical infrastructure objects; they should not be disconnected from the grid even during blackouts. In reality, no hospital can afford to be without electricity for even a few minutes. There are people connected to medical equipment 24/7 to sustain their lives; urgent surgeries and procedures need to be performed, and so on.

Sensitive medical equipment requires uninterrupted voltage within a certain range – not every generator or storage device can meet this condition. Critical equipment fails when connected to generators whose characteristics have not been thoroughly studied. Some district hospitals not only have a primary generator but also want to install backups to ensure functionality if the first one fails. In total, more than 11,000 generators have been provided to healthcare facilities to ensure their stable operation during prolonged outages or blackouts. In addition to electricity, to make hospitals fully autonomous, local wells need to be installed, which are absent in almost 50% of facilities. The Soviet-era water supply network cannot withstand prolonged power outages, leading to “no light – no water” scenarios in many cities. Overall, out of the 643 healthcare facilities included in the capable network, only 262 are fully autonomous. These numbers do not account for the vast number of private hospitals but show only state institutions capable of functioning independently from centralized electricity and water supplies. However, they still need constant support to maintain this autonomy.

The least of the problems during power outages has been the internet: having experienced a complete blackout, Ukrainians have massively switched to fiber-optic cables. During another outage, it is enough to connect a power bank to the modem to continue working and following the news. Moreover, even if there is no internet, a person can live without it. As mentioned in the first paragraphs, the absence of electricity is not only about the lack of modern and not entirely necessary conveniences but also about the inability to provide medical services to those who need them. The lack of electricity also means an inability to meet basic needs. The abnormal heat has caused a sharp deterioration in the health of Ukrainians: strokes, heart attacks, heat strokes, severe dehydration, and mass poisonings have become more frequent. Sweating and insufficient water intake increase the risk of blood clots. Particularly at risk are people with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, pensioners, and children under five. However, even a healthy person can feel unwell enough to call an ambulance after climbing to the 30th floor with an indoor temperature of +40°C.

People faint not only on the streets but also at home, where it seems possible to hide from the sun. The reason is that without electricity, it is impossible to turn on the air conditioner or fan to cool the air. Immobile people are trapped in their homes: without electricity, they cannot go downstairs because the elevator is not working. They cannot fetch any water from a street pump or buy it from a store. Water supply pumps in high-rise buildings cannot deliver water to higher floors during outages. People need to think in advance even about how to use the toilet: collect enough technical water while there is electricity to flush the toilet later. Generators both save and maim: just a few minutes of walking in the heat near a row of stores is enough to make you dizzy and nauseous from the fumes. Recently, I saw a group of people pouring mineral water on a street dog – animals also suffer from the heat and generator fumes. And even if these animals are stray, passersby try to help them as best they can.

According to the head of the Main Directorate of the State Consumer Service in Kyiv, Oleh Ruban, due to power outages and high air temperatures, three cases of food poisoning are registered weekly in the capital, with the situation in other regions no better. The chance of contracting norovirus or salmonellosis exists everywhere, whether buying something in a supermarket or dining in an expensive restaurant. Dishonest businesses may skimp on fuel and not turn on generators, while honest ones are not immune to generator failure. Moreover, generators do not always start immediately after a power outage; sometimes, it takes several attempts to get them running stably. Therefore, finding “suspicious” looking products is quite easy even in large supermarket chains that have always had a clean reputation, as some products thaw quickly and should not be refrozen. Generators are not always enough to maintain the operation of all refrigerators and freezers. In small grocery stores, where owners cannot afford a powerful generator, dairy and meat products spoil quickly, forcing employees to discard food that would normally be fit for consumption for more than a month. Businesses suffer significant losses.

“Fundraising for a more powerful generator is open – it’s worth preparing for a harsh winter today,” reads a notice board near an apartment building in an elite residential complex in Kyiv. Residents here can afford to buy their own generator to supply a 25-story building with corridor lights, working elevators, and running water. At the same time, most Ukrainians cannot even afford this. It is especially difficult for people whose scheduled outages differ from the schedule at home, making it nearly impossible to use electricity during the day. They wake up without power, get ready for work, spend almost the entire workday without power, which is only available for about an hour, and return home in the evening to find no power again. The question arises: when, with such a rhythm of life, can they simply cook food, do laundry, or take a shower? “At three in the morning, when the power finally comes on for an hour and a half, during which time you need to get everything done!” shared several of my colleagues. In the village of Chaika, Kyiv region, acquaintances complained that one day they had only one hour of electricity per day. Some owners of electric and induction stoves shared how to cook without electricity: camping gas stoves and cylinders, which have a high risk of explosion if used incorrectly, have come back into fashion.

It is also worth reminding that power outages are an additional opportunity for Russian disinformation and provocation. For example, recent fakes included new “line-based” power outages and sanitary standards regarding noise levels from generators. In reality, there will be no “line-based” outages, and noise level standards do not apply during emergencies. Provocative posts spread through multimillion-dollar channels on Telegram and Viber groups on Facebook and are also discussed by popular bloggers on other platforms. If you trace where all these news items originate, it turns out that Russian television or their bots on social networks were the first to talk about them to provoke disputes in Ukrainian society. Despite this, Ukrainians remain united, and obstacles make bonds stronger.