Under fire and freezing, children in Ukraine endure the harshest winter of war

GENEVA, 16 January 2026 – “The winter scenario in Ukraine that we all feared is now a reality. Intense strikes devastating vital energy and water systems at a time of extreme sub-zero temperatures.

Millions of families across the country are enduring days without heating, electricity, and water supplies.

Children and their families are in constant survival mode. With no heating at minus eighteen degrees Celsius, life at home in a high-rise apartment is about staying safe from incessant attacks and surviving extreme temperatures. 

On the tenth floor of one such building on Kyiv’s left bank, Svitlana is doing what she can to care for her three-year-old daughter Arina. 

She told us that they’ve had no heating or electricity for more than three days and that was in the first week of disruptions – many families continue to go without or have sporadic access. Cold water comes only intermittently. Families have reverted to stuffing soft toys, or anything, against the windows to block some of the freezing cold. 

Svitlana can’t bathe Arina or prepare hot food. So, she wraps her child in multiple layers and navigates ten floors of the dark stairwell to reach a tent set up outside by Ukraine’s State Emergency Services. There, they can warm up, get hot food, charge devices and speak with a psychologist -or simply sit in the warmth. 

 UNICEF has also equipped the tents with psychosocial support materials, which provide children with games and toys to play and relax, helping both children and adults to cope with increased anxiety.     

For children, the impact of such harsh conditions is both physical and mental. Darkness and freezing temperatures intensify fear and stress, and can lead to, or exacerbate respiratory and other health conditions. 

The youngest are the most vulnerable. Newborns and infants lose body heat rapidly and are at heightened risk of hypothermia and respiratory illness, conditions that can quickly become life-threatening without adequate warmth and medical care.

Education has also been disrupted again. The extreme cold has led to schools and kindergartens in the capital and other areas switching fully to remote learning, but power outages in-turn disrupt online classes. 

Despite the extreme challenges, as soon as damage has been inflicted, the remarkable energy and water technicians are on the ground conducting urgent repairs to electricity, heating and water infrastructure.    

It’s a race against time to restore services and one that UNICEF is supporting through its large-scale winter response - tirelessly working to assist 1.65 million people, including 470,000 children. 

This work started months ago and includes investments made in previous years that are mitigating the impact of disruptions today.

• Following recent strikes on energy infrastructure and total blackouts in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro, hospitals were able to keep functioning and water supply flowing thanks to generators and solar power installations that were put in place well ahead of the winter. 
• In Kyiv, after damage to central heating stations, we immediately set up generators from pre-positioned stocks to provide electricity, averting a complete shutdown of essential, life-saving services. 
• We are sending 79 high-capacity generators to water and heating companies across the country, expanding our work with municipalities to reduce disruptions and provide more sustainable heating.
• Winter cash assistance has been provided to more than 183,000 people, including 86,000 children, in frontline regions, so parents can prioritize their children’s urgent needs. 
• And through the education system, winter grants are being provided to 1,500 educational facilities to help them conduct urgent upgrades to stay open and ensure a more child-friendly environment for some 445,000 students. 

Nearly four years into this relentless war, children’s lives are still consumed by thoughts of survival, not childhood.

The winter threat follows a tragic 11 per cent increase in verified child casualties during 2025, compared to the previous year, with at least 92 children killed and 652 injured. In total, more than 3,200 children have now been killed or injured since the start of the full-scale war. 

UNICEF once again calls for an end to attacks on civilian areas, and the infrastructure children rely on.