As Russia's war against Ukraine enters its fifth year, a young mother in Kyiv is fighting a daily battle not on the front lines but inside a freezing apartment with her 9-month-old son.
Newsmax foreign correspondent Shelby Wilder traveled to the Ukrainian capital's left bank, one of the hardest-hit areas after repeated Russian strikes on the energy grid left residents without consistent heat, power, or hot water during the harsh winter months.
More than 600,000 people fled Kyiv in January amid intensified attacks targeting infrastructure. Those who remain are enduring rolling blackouts, burst pipes, and subfreezing temperatures.
"My name is Julia. I'm 29 years old, and this is Zakhar. He's 9 months old," the young mother told Wilder. "Winter has been extremely hard. You are always waiting for the electricity to come back or waiting for the next attack."
Julia lives on the ninth floor of a building now plagued by flooding and damage after shelling hit a nearby thermal power plant.
When authorities attempted to restart heating systems, pipes burst, leaving apartments soaked and uninhabitable in places.
"When there was shelling, they hit a thermal power plant and our heating was turned off," she explained. "When they tried to restart the system, the pipes burst. And because of that, everything was completely flooded."
Repairs will have to wait until spring. In the meantime, Julia worries about mold spreading through the damp apartment — another threat to her infant son's health.
Without electricity, elevators don't work. Julia carries her baby up and down nine flights of stairs when necessary — a near-impossible task with a stroller. Most days, they stay inside.
"When the heating is turned off, we turn on the gas and put bricks like this to warm ourselves when there is no electricity," she said, describing improvised efforts to survive the cold.
Even routine tasks become ordeals.
"To wash the baby, you have to heat water, gather it, and when you're in a cold apartment, you have to do everything very quickly," she said.
Air raid sirens sound almost nightly. With a thermal plant nearby, their neighborhood remains a frequent target.
"As soon as we hear an air raid siren at night, almost every night we gather our things and go to the shelter," Julia told Wilder.
"It's very scary because all the Shaheds and all the missiles fly over us," she said, referring to the Shahed attack drone.
Despite exhaustion and fear, Julia says she does not want to leave Ukraine.
"We really hope that this will end soon," she said. "I don't want to have to leave Ukraine because this is my country."
Her plea underscores the human toll of a grinding war that continues to reshape Europe and the lives of families simply trying to keep their children warm and safe.
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Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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