Zaporizhzhia is waking up to another hard winter reality: heating and power disruptions after renewed strikes on energy infrastructure. 

In apartment blocks across the city, mornings now start with the same routine — check the lights, check the radiators and prepare for the next outage.

Inside some homes, the day begins under blankets. Coats stay close, even indoors. Phones are kept on low power. Kettles are filled with hot water "just in case," because electricity can disappear without warning — and heating can drop with it.

For Semen Musher and his family, that uncertainty has become a constant background noise. "Electricity goes out here almost every day — sometimes more than once," he says. "And when it goes, the heating often drops too. You can't plan anything… you just adapt."

That adaptation is practical and immediate: cook, charge, wash, and get essentials done before the next power cut. Life runs on a countdown — minutes of power, then a scramble to stretch whatever comes after. And when the dull thud of an explosion carries in the distance, it is more than a sound. In Zaporizhzhia, it can be a switch.

"When you hear those strikes, you already know what might come next," says Olena Musher. "You think 'Will the lights go out again? Will the heating stop?' At night you don't sleep properly — you're always preparing."

Warm hubs

Across the city, residents head to official 'Points of Invincibility' — warm hubs set up for emergencies, where people can find heat, hot food, and places to charge phones and power banks. Others go wherever there is electricity: cafés, shops, small restaurants — anywhere that can offer a working socket and a few minutes of warmth.

But the disruption begins further upstream, at the energy system itself. Crews are rerouting supply and patching damaged lines while the network operates under growing strain.

"Russia targets energy because it hits daily life directly," says energy analyst Hennadi Ryabtsev. "When power and heat become unstable, it disrupts services, strains utilities, and creates constant uncertainty — especially during winter."

Even when the lights come back, Ryabtsev warns the system doesn't simply reset. "Even when repairs are fast, the impact accumulates. Equipment is damaged, spare parts are used up and crews are stretched. That increases vulnerability — and raises the risk of longer outages."

In Zaporizhzhia, people are coping with blankets, generators, and constant planning. But the pressure isn't only the cold — it's the unpredictability, and the question many residents ask each night: will the heat hold tonight?