As the temperatures dropped to below freezing in the second week of the year, Russian attacks worsened the energy and humanitarian crises in Ukraine as millions of people were left without basic services. Russia attacked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on January 9 with massive force using 242 kamikaze drones and 26 missiles, as reported by the Air Force of Ukraine. Most of the fired weapons were intercepted by air defenses, but 16 drones and 18 missiles bypassed the air defense and hit targets in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Odesa, Dnipro and Lviv. Four civilians were killed and almost 30 people were injured in the attacks. The damage was severe.
About half a million people were affected as approximately 6,000 apartment buildings were left without electricity, heating or running water in sub-zero temperatures. Powerful January winds blew through broken windows exacerbating the situation in houses. In Kyiv, around one thousand apartment houses were left without power two days after attacks. Another wave of attacks was conducted by Russia on January 13 and again targeted the power stations and electricity substations. The latter attack resulted in the death of four additional civilians as well as worsening the already compromised energy infrastructure. The energy ministry then reacted by cutting emergency power to Kyiv and the Chernihiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and Donetsk regions. Citizens reported poor living conditions due to extended power outages. Liza Nechyporuk, the social media head of the outlet, told her that the heating in her apartment was technically present but very weak. She reported that she used hot water bottles when working and sleeping as a way of dealing with the cold.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Russia was specifically taking advantage of the winter weather to make the most damage. The Russians are making the most of the weather, the cold snap are attempting to strike as many of our energy plants as they can, said he. After the second attack, Zelenskyy issued an emergency in the energy sector of Ukraine and created a coordination center in Kyiv to control the work on its immediate repair. He also made a former prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, the energy minister, telling him to increase the electricity import capacity by all business opportunities. The new wave of strikes and emergency interventions emphasized the level of pressure on the Ukrainian infrastructure with the increasing winter conditions and the ongoing assaults on the energy infrastructure.