--- title: "Izium residents brace for freezing winter amid Russian grid attacks" url: https://radiomoldova.md/p/87275/izium-residents-brace-for-freezing-winter-amid-russian-grid-attacks published: 2026-10-14T08:01:00Z language: en author: "Leanca Lașco-Rață" section: "International" source: radiomoldova.md --- # Izium residents brace for freezing winter amid Russian grid attacks > Residents in the war-battered Ukrainian city of Izium are stockpiling firewood and installing backup boilers as relentless Russian strikes threaten power and heating supplies ahead of a harsh winter. [Video: https://trm.blob.core.windows.net/photos/3010b0d0-279b-43fb-99b5-23fd44dac1a2.jpg](https://original.trm.md/video/definst/MP4:2026/10/13/uk.mp4/playlist.m3u8) Residents in the war-battered Ukrainian city of Izium are stockpiling firewood and installing backup boilers as relentless Russian strikes threaten power and heating supplies ahead of a harsh winter. ![](https://storage.radiomoldova.md/images/eb964105-945a-41f8-94e8-0d2bdacb83ee.jpg) **Grassroots survival in eastern Ukraine** In Izium, a liberated city in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region, locals are racing to seal shattered windows and repair bombed roofs before temperatures plunge below freezing. Frequent power outages and the constant threat of drone strikes have turned winter preparations into a daily struggle for survival. Neither the Russian occupation four years ago nor continuous shelling convinced resident Mykola Denshchuk to abandon his home. Together with his wife, Halyna, he is splitting firewood and setting up an alternative heating system to guard against potential natural gas cutoffs. *“We are cutting and splitting firewood because, although we currently have gas, we could lose it at any time,”* said Mykola Denshchuk. *“It is better to build reserves and be ready for any scenario, especially since we spent the first winter of the war without any heating.”* To keep their two-room house warm, the couple connected a solid-fuel backup boiler directly to their domestic radiator circuit. *“We feed wood into this boiler and linked it to the central heating pipes so that both rooms and the kitchen stay warm,”* said Halyna Denshchuk. Across the town, neighbors are salvaging whatever materials they can find to weatherproof damaged properties before sub-zero temperatures arrive. *“I took a pane from an old window we no longer need and I am trying to fit it here, because there is no glass left at all,”* noted another local resident. **Apartment blocks face acute vulnerability** Preparations are even more daunting for residents living in multi-story apartment buildings, where municipal utilities remain severely disrupted. In one damaged residential block, neighbors improvised a wood-burning stove in a shared hallway while overhead anti-drone nets now line several city streets. Local authorities estimate that roughly 28,000 people remain in Izium, representing less than half of the city's pre-war population. Many elderly and vulnerable residents have no alternative heating sources if the municipal network fails. *“We are waiting for municipal utilities to be restored so we can have heating for the winter, because there is nothing else we can do,”* said an apartment building resident. *“We do not even have electric space heaters, and even if we did, heating an entire apartment would be extremely difficult.”* *“Let us hope everything turns out well and that we do not repeat the ordeal of 2022,”* added another neighbor. **A nationwide energy and housing crisis** The local anxieties in Izium reflect a broader national crisis following last winter's devastating Russian air campaign against Ukrainian power plants and civilian infrastructure. In Kyiv alone, nearly 6,000 apartment buildings lost heating during the strikes, and district heating supply could not be restored in more than 1,000 of them. The widespread grid damage forced Ukrainian authorities to declare a state of emergency in the energy sector after millions of citizens were left without electricity and heat. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), approximately 13% of Ukraine's national housing stock has been damaged during the war, affecting around 2.5 million people who now fear a repeat of the blackouts this winter. Translation by **Iurie Tataru** ![](https://storage.radiomoldova.md/images/73b42483-3463-43c4-b505-b8298b382326.jpg) **RELATED COVERAGE** * [600,000 flee Kyiv as Russian strikes trigger energy emergency]() * [Zelensky warns Russia of retaliation over winter energy strikes]() * [War risks threaten Black Sea energy security, expert warns]() * [Russian drone strikes kill eight across Ukraine, hit fuel stations]() * [Russian attack plunges Ukraine civilians into heating crisis]()