KYIV, Ukraine — As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine enters its fourth year, many Ukrainian residents are facing the harsh realities of life without essential services such as hot water, heating, or power.
Despite enduring long lines for a hot meal to fend off the winter chill, locals have expressed to The Post their unwavering resolve against the oppressive tactics of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, preferring to endure the cold rather than capitulate to his demands.
“If someone thinks they can make us give up, they’re wrong. We won’t surrender because we need to maintain our dignity,” explained Olha Sukhobok, a 48-year-old resident of Kyiv.
For two months, thousands in Kyiv have been living without heat or electricity, following orders from Putin for his forces to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in an attempt to crumble their spirit.
Contrary to pushing Ukrainians towards conceding, Russia’s campaign of enforced cold and darkness is actually fortifying their resolve. Many Ukrainians believe any deal under duress would unjustly reward Moscow’s aggression without ensuring future security, as revealed through interviews with over a dozen civilians.
“Russia aims to cripple the energy system to make us suffer, incite panic, and perhaps force us to flee or agree to unfavorable terms. It’s their strategy. But they won’t break the Ukrainian spirit, though the psychological weight is immense,” Sukhobok commented while receiving a warm bowl of stew from a World Central Kitchen volunteer.
Russia’s persistent brutality against Ukrainian civilians has hardened their resistance against their aggressor, a phenomenon known by military strategists as losing the “hearts and minds” of the local population.
Experts say bombing civilians rarely forces surrender — and often does the opposite, strengthening resolve. That famously played out in the Vietnam War, with the US learning you can’t bomb people into submission.
“Strategic bombing historically has a weak empirical record for causing capitulation of the target population,” Institute for the Study of War’s Russia Program lead George Barros said. “Studies of strategic bombing campaigns find that strategic bombing campaigns typically reinforce civilian resolve rather than making their surrender more likely.”
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who leads negotiations for the countries, told Fox News on Saturday that the conflict “really is a silly war” because Russia and Ukraine are “fighting over — they’re arguing [over] this territory.”
“You know, everyone throws the word dignity around, but what does dignity get you if you have that amount of killing there?” he said.
But the stakes are high for Ukrainians living through the war — many of whom expressed gratitude to President Trump for trying to force Russia to cease its targeting of Ukraine’s energy grid.
Tetiana Zamrii, 35, said she could see why some Americans might think the end of the war would be as simple as Kyiv signing over the roughly 15% left of the Donbas in Ukrainian control to Russia, but argued it would be tantamount to abandoning the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian people who live there.
“I can understand those people because they think it will be a solution to the problem. We are so tired and I understand why a lot of people want the war to end quickly,” she said. “They think that that part of our country isn’t necessary — but all of our people are on it.”
Originally from Donetsk — a city that Russia now controls in the Donbas — Zamrii said she has adjusted to life amid war.
“Sometimes there are bad days during these infinitive negotiations. The war just evolves,” she said. “It is dark at night, but the sun still rises — and so do I each day.”
Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, she and other Ukrainians said they have simply accepted that the war may last the rest of their lives. They’ve adjusted to their “new normal,” much like the world had to adapt to new ways of life during the pandemic.
“I have life hacks,” Zamrii said. “When the electricity goes out, I light candles and put on extra layers of clothes.”
She also dresses her hairless cat, Lola, in a sweater, and near her bed puts a small electric heater plugged into a power bank.
The city of Kyiv has also found “hacks,” setting up insulated, heated tents to give the population a reprieve from the cold. Inside, children’s books and toys are laid out on tables to entertain the children of families just trying to warm up.
Zamrii and others in her neighborhood have also been without hot water since early January, with Kyiv saying it may not be fixed until summer. They make do by boiling water on gas stoves before pouring it into large bowls to pour over themselves in the bathtub, Zamrii said.
Others say Putin is not focused on hearts and minds because he’s more interested in killing off the Ukrainian population rather than garnering their support to join Russia.
“They don’t want the Ukrainian people to exist,” said a man named Anatoliy, who was lined up to receive WCK’s hot soup. “It’s genocide.”
He used word play to say that it is a “holod-omor” — using the word “holod” meaning cold to reference the Holodomor, Joseph Stalin’s 1930 campaign to starve Ukrainians out in the early years of the Soviet Union.
“The main reason is to destroy the Ukrainian nation,” he said. “They were erasing our nation by Holodomor, and now they’re doing it with holod-omor.”
“They’re just using this weather to destroy us as a nation and population,” Anatoliy added.
So far, Russia has killed roughly 15,000 civilians since the full-scale war began on Feb. 24, 2022. At least 10 of those were Ukrainians who froze to death, according to public reports.
Asked whether Putin’s targeting of energy infrastructure would work, the 67-year-old gave a firm “no.”
“Russians wanted to take care of it within three days; it’s been four years,” Anatoliy said. “We are fighting, we are together. We do have some problems, but we come together.”
