Ukraine war: ‘Living in a nightmare’ – Kyiv families without water or electricity in suffering ‘worse than WWII’
In the flicker of candlelight, a 91-year-old grandmother says she is scared as night falls, plunging her apartment block in Kyiv once more into darkness.
Anna Abrosimova fell over during a blackout this week, hurting her legs. She is too frail to move somewhere safer.
“I am living in a nightmare,” she said, standing in the hallway of her neat, tidy, first-floor flat.
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Russian missile strikes against Ukraine‘s power and water supplies have turned people’s homes, like hers, into a new frontline as Vladimir Putin tries to crush their will to resist.
But Anna, who lives with her adult granddaughter, said she is determined to survive.
She has stored bottles of water in her hallway and wrapped pots of soup up in blankets to keep them warm.
Power cuts have increased in frequency in recent weeks
Standing next to a wall decoration that says in English “Love – Happy – Joy”, she said: “I urgently want to live to see the victory and to see how it’s all over.
“But it is almost one year since that bandit [Putin] started a war against us. Does he have no shame?”
She said her husband of 59 years, who died more than a decade ago, was Russian.
“We [Ukraine and Russia] used to be together [in the Soviet Union]… Putin came to power and what is he doing now? He wants Ukraine. We will not allow him. If I was younger, I would go and fight.”
Ukraine by night from NASA. Pic: NASA WORLDVIEW/Reuters
‘Worse than Hitler’
Anna said the suffering unleashed by Russia’s invasion was even harsher than the horrors her country endured during the Second World War, when she was a child.
“They are worse than Hitler. Hitler – God forgive me for saying this – was a stranger but they [the Russians] are like our own people,” she said.
“In the Second World War it was hard, my father was killed, leaving just me, my younger brother and my mother. It was tough, but not as now. My nerves are shredded.”
Anna said there had been power outages at specific times in the wake of Russia’s full-scale war on 24 February but in recent weeks it has become much worse and unpredictable.
Her granddaughter works during the day. If there is no power, she is unable to return home.
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Russian forces have smashed energy and water infrastructure in waves of deliberate strikes in a tactic that seems designed to try to crush Ukraine’s will to resist as winter draws in.
“Of course I’m worried. I wish I had electricity,” Anna said. “It is hard but I don’t want to die. I wish to wait for the peace.”
Myroslava Babchenko, 32 and her children
Mother resorts to melting snow for water
In another apartment nearby, a young mother and her two children, five-year-old Viktor and two-year-old Anna, are also having to adapt to this new, harsher reality of power and water outages on top of the threat of missile strikes.
They too had no electricity or running water on Wednesday and Thursday but services returned in their block on Friday.
“When you have no electricity, you feel like you can adapt,” said Myroslava Babchenko, 32, sitting in her children’s bedroom, which doubles up as a playroom.
“But when the water disappeared and we lost all amenities, it became very uncomfortable. Also, when you have little children, you constantly want to wash their hands and be clean, it’s very hard.”
The destruction in Kyiv
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She resorted to melting some of the year’s first snow this week to create at least water that was suitable for washing.
Myroslava said she wanted to stay with her family in Kyiv but if conditions become much worse then she will move to a holiday home outside the capital that they own.
Water stored in Kyiv apartment
“My brother is on the frontline. He says we shouldn’t be sad and that we need to enjoy life, because they are there for us to be happy,” she said, watching her daughter toddle around, batting a red, heart shaped balloon.
“I don’t think of myself as a soldier but… We have a phrase in Ukraine: ‘What is your power? I’m Ukrainian…’ and I feel proud of that.”
Israel pounded the outskirts of Gaza City overnight, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.
Families streamed out of the city as the explosions hit.
“I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City,” said Mohammad, 40.
“No place is safe, but I can’t take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire.”
Mahmoud Abedrabo mourns over the body of his son Hamada in Gaza City on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Others said they would prefer to die and not leave.
“We are not leaving, let them bomb us at home,” said Aya, 31, who has a family of eight, adding that they couldn’t afford to buy a tent or pay for the transportation.
“We are hungry, afraid and don’t have money,” she said.
Mourners pray next to the body of Palestinian boy Hamada Abedrabo on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Witnesses said that overnight they heard nonstop explosions in Zeitoun and Shejaia.
Tanks shelled houses and roads in Sabra, and buildings were blown up in Jabalia.
On Sunday, the IDF said its forces had returned to combat in Jabalia to strengthen its control of the area and dismantle militant tunnels.
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
It added that the operation there “enables the expansion of combat into additional areas and prevents Hamas terrorists from returning to operate in these areas.”
This month, Israel approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City. The offensive isn’t expected to start for another few weeks.
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In the meantime, mediators in Egypt and Qatar are trying to resume ceasefire talks between the two sides.
On Friday, Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said that Gaza City will be razed unless Hamas releases all its remaining hostages and ends the war on Israel’s terms.
Mourners transport the body of Ahmed Balata on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Around half of Gaza’s two million residents currently live in the city and on Friday a global hunger monitor said that Gaza City and its surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine that will likely spread.
Israel said the monitor ignores steps Israel has taken since late July to increase aid supplies into and across Gaza.
Eight more people died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry on Saturday.
281 people, including 114 children, have now died of malnutrition and starvation since the war started, according to the ministry.
The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel, mainly civilians, and took 251 hostages.
Since then, Israel has killed at least 62,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and internally displaced nearly its entire population.
Two married couples have died after a British car veered off the road and crashed in Germany, according to police.
The fatal accident happened shortly after midnight on Saturday in the trees near a highway in the Kassel district, north of Hesse in central Germany.
The 32-year-old male driver, a 31-year-old female passenger, a 32-year-old female passenger, and a 30-year-old female passenger all died at the scene, despite the efforts of German emergency services.
Sky News understands UK officials have not been contacted for assistance.
At roughly 12.30am on Saturday, the car appears to have veered off the road and crashed into nearby trees around 30m from the road, according to the Kassel police department.
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
One of the victim’s phones automatically alerted the emergency services to the incident, who sent an ambulance to the scene.
Soon, fire engines, ambulances, command vehicles and emergency support vehicles were all dispatched.
When emergency workers arrived, the car was lying on its side, wedged between several trees.
It wasn’t until they removed the roof that they found all four passengers.
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
The accident happened on Highway L3229
The emergency workers who dealt with the victims were immediately supported by the specialist mental health workers at the fire station in Reinhardshagen.
“This high number of deaths is an extraordinary operation for our Reinhardshagen Volunteer Fire Department,” said a fire department spokesperson.
“For some of the emergency personnel, it is the first time they have been confronted with death in this way.
“Therefore, a great deal is being done to help us process these images. We will also discuss this among ourselves and within families, because not everyone can easily shake off what they have seen.”
An investigation into the accident is ongoing and is being conducted by the Hofgeismar police station.
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