Russian strikes 'tear Kyiv apart' as families with young children choose between staying for winter and displacement

According to a BBC report, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned that the city is facing a 'very difficult situation,' saying Russian strikes are 'tearing Kyiv apart.' Over the past several weeks, petrol stations, power generation facilities and a key bridge over the Dnieper River have successively become targets.

Maria Shostak, a mother of two, told the BBC that the change came in late August and early September, when the city began to be struck around the clock. 'Earlier, drones and missiles were intercepted in the suburbs. Now strikes happen in the city centre, right above our heads.' She decided not to wait for winter to arrive and to leave with her 4-year-old Artur and 2-year-old Kira, planning to spend the winter in Hurghada on Egypt's Red Sea coast because it is cheaper and warmer than Europe. 'I feel no sense of security in Ukraine,' she said.

According to a September poll by the Gradus Research Company, 40% of Ukrainians are considering relocating as living conditions continue to deteriorate, 35% say they will not leave, and 25% are undecided. Yevgeniia Blyzniuk, the company's founder and CEO, told the BBC that public concern is not limited to power outages: 'The Russians are also striking large logistics centres, and people are starting to worry about winter food supplies.' She does not expect a mass exodus, saying most people tend to delay action — 'they will keep putting it off until conditions become truly unlivable.'

Among families with young children, the pressure to make a relocation decision appears particularly urgent. A woman named only as Iryna told the BBC that her 3-year-old daughter Polina, after spending several weeks last winter without heating in indoor temperatures dropping to between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius, has this year survived two more missile strikes — one in June that shattered several windows in their home, and another a month later that hit the foot of their apartment building, blasting dirt into the flat and forcing the family into temporary accommodation. Polina has since developed severe anxiety, with symptoms including throwing up, shaking and incontinence. 'Each bombardment brings new symptoms,' Iryna said. 'Now she has neurological issues, which is also why we are considering leaving.' Her husband is in the military, and she may travel to Poland remotely through work with an international NGO. 'Our president says it is best to leave Kyiv because Kyiv is the number one target.'

According to the report, in response to continued damage to the power grid, over the past 18 months Kyiv has built around 15 small generating stations inside reinforced bunkers covered with massive steel cages to resist drone attacks, each capable of providing electricity and heating to several hundred high-rise flats. Energy companies have begun discussing planned blackouts, and intermittent goods shortages have appeared in some supermarkets.

Not everyone is choosing to go abroad. Olena Konoplia told the BBC that she spent weeks finding a small house in the countryside about two hours' drive from Kyiv, with no factories, warehouses or railways nearby, on the basis that these 'could all become targets for the Russians.' The house uses a gas convection heater, and firewood is stocked in the barn. Her elderly mother will also move in, because living in a 'fairly dangerous neighbourhood' in the capital is bad for her health. 'Here I can fall asleep, just fall asleep, without explosions, without alerts,' Olena said. 'I can work, I can write articles, and I feel much better.'

The BBC report noted that Kyiv's most vulnerable groups — the elderly and women with young children — are being arranged to be moved into sanatoriums and rehabilitation centres converted at the edge of forest areas. But for the majority of Kyiv residents, a second difficult winter will still be spent where they are.