Russian strikes are leaving Ukrainian children without heat and power, while parents are stuck with options and schools are closed

Kyiv – On Wednesday, bitterly cold in the Heroiv Dnipra region of Kyiv, Mariana Kiriluk, a podiatrist in her early thirties, did not know what to do with her ten-year-old son Zahar. Schools in the Ukrainian capital have been closed until February, as Russian strikes knocked out power in part of the city.

For thousands of other families, the power outages mean it’s very cold for Zahar and his mother, with temperatures dropping below five degrees Fahrenheit.

“Sometimes I take him to work with him. Sometimes I have to leave him alone at home. It’s very difficult: no power, no heat,” Kiriluk told CBS News.

This week, Zahar spent several days in a tent the Ukrainian Red Cross set up outside the family’s building – one of 1,300 “points of invincibility” across the city. The shelter has heaters, phone charging stations and WiFi.

Kiriluk left work every day to check on Zahar, and discovered during his recent visit that he had created a TikTok account to share his experience with the Red Cross.

The tent in front of their house, Kiriluk told CBS News with a smile, is not a “long-term solution.”

Getting kids back to school

Since Russia introduced its full attack in February 2022, the lives of Ukrainian children were disproportionately affected. As of October 2025, Ukrainian officials said about 3,500 educational institutions were destroyed, and more than 700,000 children were driven from their homes.

Ukrainian officials and aid organizations have sought opportunities to protect children from the effects of war, with a focus on resuming in-person classes across the country.

“After the epidemic … and now it has hit, there is a generation of elementary school children who have never seen a real school,” Viktoriia Zhydyk, representative of SaveED, the largest non-profit organization in Ukraine, told CBS News. “Children should be in classes, have a community, talk to each other … we are trying to change the situation of children in the worst situations.”

But in Kyiv, restarting private education means tackling the energy shortages that the capital often faces. In 2025, Russia carried out 612 strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and Kyiv experienced more than 100 days of blackouts, according to the Kyiv City State Administration.

“All schools have been prepared during this attack,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told CBS News on Thursday. “We have generators ready to run separately from the heating system and central electricity.”

Last year, the city’s efforts to reopen municipal schools allowed about 300,000 children to return to classrooms.

Long blackout

However, in January those preparations seemed to be insufficient. Russia stepped up its offensive on January 9, and the city struggled to restore heating, electricity and running water to residents.

As of Thursday, Klitschko said nearly 3,000 buildings in Kyiv remained unheated, including many apartment buildings housing thousands of people, prompting officials to extend the Christmas and New Year’s school holidays in February.

The current blackout has been brutally long, testing the city’s ability to cope.

Kyiv is “not ready for days without electricity,” Jamie Wah, Deputy Head of Mission in Kyiv for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told CBS News.

Schools and hospitals are the Red Cross’ front line, and Wah said addressing their needs already means “stepping into emergency services.”

Families are caught between the city and the province

Mayor Klitschko said that the citizens of Kyiv told him that schools and daycare centers are closing due to the pressure after enduring almost four years of war.

“Parents complain that their children are alone at home,” he said. “If we have the spirit [raid] alarm, no one will bring the children to the shelter.”

It is a matter of great concern for many Ukrainian families with members serving in the military.

“My husband has been at the forefront since the first days of the war,” Kiriluk told CBS News. “He rarely gets a vacation…so I’m the only one who takes care of the kids.”

To add another layer of problems, political power in the capital is divided between Mayor Klitschko and the military commander appointed by President Zelenskyy, and it remains unclear which authorities are responsible for reopening the city’s public facilities.

“Very little has been done in the capital. And even these past few days, I did not see enough effort – all this should be fixed immediately,” said President Zelenskyy last week.

Klitschko said that he cannot make decisions about the opening of schools because they are under the central government.

“We plan to open schools next week,” he said, but “this is the decision of the central government, and we must follow this decision.”

Until schools and daycares are opened, Zahar will spend days in impenetrable Red Cross tents, where his hosts have welcomed his social media presence.

“Thank you for your kind heart and your desire to help! We are glad to know you,” the Ukrainian Red Cross commented on one of his recent TikToks.