Ukrainian children are in survival mode, UNICEF warns. Ukraine: families in “survival mode” amid Russian strikes and severe frosts Peace and security
Families across Ukraine are in “constant survival mode” amid ongoing waves of Russian missile attacks and drone strikes that have left entire neighborhoods – sometimes for days at a time – without heat, water or electricity as temperatures plummet to extremes. low values. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced this on Friday.
“Families literally started covering their windows even with soft toys in order to somehow protect themselves from the piercing cold,” Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF representative for Ukraine, told reporters at a briefing in Geneva. This statement came after another night of attacks on energy infrastructure facilities, in particular in Zaporozhye and Kharkov regions. As a result of these attacks, many residential areas were left without electricity and heating. The cold poses a mortal danger to the population. It has turned into a “national emergency,” Mammadzadeh said. In Kiev on Friday, the thermometer dropped to -15 degrees Celsius, and next week it could be even colder outside and in houses without heating. If until now humanitarian efforts have been mainly focused on front-line areas, then the constant Russian attacks on urban infrastructure, including residential areas, have revealed a much more complex range of needs of people living in apartment buildings. Among them is Kyiv resident Svetlana, who is trying in these conditions to provide the necessary care for her three-year-old daughter Arina. “She told us that she had no heating or electricity for more than three days, and this was still in the first week of outages – now we are already in the second or almost third week, and many families are still having to go without them,” Mammadzadeh said. Jamie Wa from the International Federation of Red Cross Societies Crescent noted that while power was restored “within days” after previous attacks in Kharkov and Odessa, the situation in the capital is more complex. “In Kyiv, we are faced with long-term outages, and they affect a much larger number of people,” she said. Almost four years after the start of the full-scale Russia’s invasion, “children’s lives are still filled with thoughts of survival rather than childhood,” Mammadzadeh warned. He noted that the number of deaths and injuries among children increased by 11 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year. UNICEF is helping residents of Ukrainian cities, in particular by maintaining large tents where people can stay warm. “Svetlana can’t give Arina a bath or prepare a hot meal, so she wraps the child in several layers of clothing and descends a dark staircase 10 floors to reach a tent set up outside by the State Service of Ukraine for Emergency Situations,” Mammadzadeh explained. “There they can stay warm, get hot food, charge their devices and talk to a psychologist – or just sit warm,” he said. The UN Children’s Fund warns that children are especially vulnerable to the physical and psychological effects of living in darkness and extreme cold, which, according to the organization, increases fear and stress “and can lead to respiratory and other illnesses or them.” “The smallest ones are especially defenseless,” Mammadzadeh emphasized. “Newborns and infants quickly lose body heat and are at increased risk of hypothermia and respiratory illness—conditions that, without adequate warmth and medical care, can quickly become fatal.”