The Kyiv family, with its pets and pigs, defying Russia and the cold

By Yuliia Dysa and Alina Smutko

KYIV, Feb 7 (Reuters) – When the Davydenko family woke up shivering through the night in their winter coats and hats, buried under several layers of duvets, they knew it was time to abandon their apartment in Kyiv.

Systematic Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid since October last year have left their 12th-floor flat with no electricity for eight days and heating for almost two weeks.

In the meantime, nighttime temperatures plunged to minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit).

Parents Yuliia and Denys, both 40, packed up their belongings, along with their three young children, two cats and two dogs, and looked for an alternative place to sleep.

The choice fell on the family-owned Piggy Cafe Kyiv – with power supplied by a generator and heating – where customers are allowed to pet seven small pigs to unwind from the stresses of war.

After the last customer leaves and the cafe shuts for the day, Yuliia and Denys roll out the mattresses and make up a bed on the floor for sons Maksym, 11, and Tymofiy, six, and two-year-old daughter Stephanie.

“The point when we decide to leave Kyiv again would be when Russian troops are 10-12 km from the city. That’s it,” Yuliia told Reuters reporters who spent three days with the family to document how they coped with extreme cold amid the air raids.

The Davydenkos had left the country early on in the invasion when Russian forces closed on the capital in 2022. Since returning from Europe, they are resolute in their intention to stay.

Such defiance is common across Kyiv and Ukraine, where many residents say they will never leave their land, a sentiment fuelling President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s push against maximalist Russian demands in ongoing peace talks.

Now, in the evening, the cats, dogs and pigs roam around the coffee shop until settling down into their own beds for the night – and even sometimes snuggle up with the family.

BRAVING FREEZING TEMPERATURES

But there is little escape from the bitter cold, which seeps into everything.

In the apartment in the Troieshchyna district in Kyiv’s northeast, which the family returns to every few days, laundry takes days to dry, and even then it feels damp. It’s often too cold to sit on a toilet. A shower is out of the question.

On a recent visit, the temperature in the kitchen was 2 C (35.6 F) and ice was forming on the inside of the window. Condensation came from their mouths as the couple spoke.

As a treat, the Davydenkos visited a sauna, to the delight of the children for whom the upheaval still has the excitement of an adventure.

“Maksym likes it,” Denys joked about their new reality. “He actually says that at home we have to do household chores. Now there’s no dish-washing, cleaning, walking the dogs. So he is happy about that.”

Back at home, the family can’t cook proper meals. In the coffee shop, it’s marshmallows in cocoa and takeaways for sustenance.

With their own business and access to full-day education for their sons, the Davydenkos are better off than many in Kyiv.

Waves of Russian attacks over the past four months left hundreds of thousands without electricity and water, making this the most devastating winter since the war started for the city’s three million people.

Some are leaving, some are forced to brave near-freezing temperatures at home while others are relying on friends or the shelter of giant heated tents set up around the city.

Russia denies targeting civilians and says its missile and drone attacks are aimed at degrading Ukraine’s military. Yet the raids have inflicted mass civilian casualties.

BIGGER BOMBARDMENT? ‘NO BIG DEAL’

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid are nothing new. But this winter the scale is greater and temperatures are lower.

After a particularly heavy attack on January 20, 5,635 apartment blocks – or almost half of the total number in Kyiv – lost heating, infrastructure ministry data shows. At one point about one million customers were disconnected from the grid simultaneously, according to an industry source.

The Davydenkos’ property is located just 4 km away from a major thermal power plant, which has been a primary target for Russian attacks since the autumn of 2025.

Despite intensifying bombardments, the Davydenkos hope for better while preparing for worse.

“No big deal,” said Yuliia when asked for their plan. “We will set up a wood stove.”

On the morning of Reuters’ last day with the family, Russia fired 71 missiles and 450 drones at Ukraine in one of the biggest single barrages of the war. Much of that firepower was concentrated on Kyiv’s energy system again.

Yuliia and Denys said they woke up to the sound of explosions and rattling windows. The heating was gone in the cafe as well.

(Editing by Mike Collett-White and Pravin Char)