Ukrainians are freezing inside their homes as Russia’s winter strikes intensify. Here is how you can help.

Russia has been striking Ukrainian energy facilities amid severe frosts that have gripped the country since late January. People are freezing inside their homes.

By midday on February 4, roughly 1,100 apartment buildings in Kyiv remained without heating, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Nationwide rolling blackouts are now in effect, with emergency power cuts hitting specific areas.

Power outages are affecting many regions of Ukraine:

• Kharkiv
• Kyiv
• Sumy
• Poltava
• Donetsk
• Dnipropetrovsk
• Kherson
• Chernihiv
• Zaporizhzhia

The Ukrainian government has recorded 217 Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure since the beginning of 2026. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko estimates that Russian forces are launching an average of more than 200 daily strikes on Ukrainian civilian targets “that provide basic living conditions for people.” Klymenko did not specify the timeframe for this data.

The attacks are occurring against a backdrop of cold weather that has persisted in Ukraine since late January. Since the beginning of February, nighttime air temperatures in some parts of the country, including the Kyiv region, have reached -20°C (-4°F) and, in some places, dropped even lower. According to the forecast from the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center, a warming trend is expected to begin by the end of the week, though it is unlikely to alleviate the situation significantly.

During the first days of February, Russia refrained from massive strikes on Ukraine’s energy sector for several days. As stated by the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin made this decision at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump announced a temporary “energy truce” on January 29; in Russia, it was said that strikes would cease until February 1.

The truce effectively lasted until February 2. Ukrainian authorities reported that strikes continued during the declared pause, though President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that no large-scale, targeted attacks on energy facilities were recorded.

Nevertheless, the Ukrainian embassy has provided U.S. authorities with information regarding attacks that occurred during the “energy truce,” which the Kremlin emphasized was declared to create “favorable conditions for negotiations in Abu Dhabi.” A new meeting of the U.S., Ukrainian, and Russian delegations was scheduled for February 1. Ultimately, negotiations began on February 4 and are expected to last two days. Ukrainian officials hope the new information will impact the negotiations, as they believe it undercuts Russia’s leverage.

Zelensky promised to adjust the work of Ukrainian negotiators following the massive attack by Russian forces on the night of February 3. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reported that thermal power plants and combined heat and power plants supplying heat for civilian use were hit in eight regions of the country. “The enemy is deliberately trying to leave Ukrainians without heat during a period of severe winter frosts,” officials concluded. The Ukrainian energy holding company DTEK called the attack on energy infrastructure the most severe since the start of the year.

After the strike, Zelensky stated that Russia had “again disregarded the efforts of the American side.” According to him, Trump called for a weeklong pause in strikes, but in reality, the “truce” lasted only from January 30 to February 3.

However, Donald Trump has claimed that Putin kept his word. On February 3, the U.S. president told journalists that Moscow observed the truce “from Sunday to Sunday.” At the same time, as documented by the news outlet Agentstvo, Russian forces carried out strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure from January 25 to January 30 and even publicly reported on them.

European officials told Bloomberg that they believe Russian strikes on civilian and energy targets are an attempt to force Ukraine to accept an unfavorable deal to end the war, amid Moscow’s failure to achieve decisive successes on the battlefield. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, answering a question about the purpose of the strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, stated that the Russian Armed Forces “are hitting those targets they consider associated with Ukraine’s military complex.”

Ukrainians are freezing and need your help. One of the most reliable ways to get it to them is the “Let’s Help” charity.

“Let’s Help” is an initiative from Helpdesk Media, Meduza, and TV Rain. Since its inception, the project has raised more than 1.4 million euros to help Ukrainian civilians. Right now, “Let’s Help” is focused on supporting Ukrainians in need of heating through the “Warmth for Ukraine” campaign. It has been running for three years.

In 2023, the project raised more than 25,000 euros and helped 700 people living near Ukraine’s front lines. In 2024, donors to the “Warmth for Ukraine” campaign raised 57,000 euros, which was used to buy generators and heating systems for emergency shelters and schools. This support helped 3,600 Ukrainians survive the winter.

This year, the “Warmth for Ukraine” goal is €150,000. A total of €125,000 has already been raised. In Russian, you can track the “Let’s Help” project on Telegram and read about how the collected funds are used. For example, on February 3, the project’s partners helped deliver hot meals to locals in Kharkiv who were left without electricity and heat after the destruction of one of the city’s main thermal power plants.