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Ukraine: Families in ‘survival mode’ amid Russian strikes and -18°C cold
Families across Ukraine are in “constant survival mode” amid ongoing waves of Russian missile and drone strikes that have left blocks without power for days at a time, while temperatures plunge to a deadly -18°C (-0.4°F), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
“Families have actually reverted to stuffing even soft toys to their windows to block some of the freezing cold,” said Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Country Representative in Ukraine.
The alert follows another night of attacks against power infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia oblast in the south and Kharkiv oblast in the east which have left many residential areas without electricity and heating.
The deadly threat of cold caused by attacks on power infrastructure is becoming a “national-scale emergency…on top of the war”, Mr. Mammadzade told journalists in Geneva during a scheduled briefing.
Pointing to temperatures of -15°C (5°F) in Kyiv on Friday, the UNICEF official warned that next week could be even colder, while millions of families across the country live with no heating. “Children and families are in constant survival mode because of that,” he said.
While the humanitarian focus until now has been on frontline areas, the constant Russian strikes on urban infrastructure including residential areas have highlighted a far more complicated set of needs among people living in apartment blocks.
These include Kyiv resident Svitlana “who is doing what she can to care for her three-year-old daughter, Adina”, on the 10th floor of her building. “She told us that she had no heating or electricity for more than three days, and that was in the first week of disruption - we're already on the second or almost third week - and many families continue to go without,” Mr. Mammadzade said.
Echoing those concerns from Kyiv, Jaime Wah from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) noted that although power has been restored “in a matter of days” following previous attacks on Kharkiv and Odesa, the situation appeared more difficult in the capital, where she rubbed her hands to keep warm while talking via video to journalists in Geneva. “In Kyiv, we’re facing a situation for sustained outages and also higher populations affected because of it,” she said.
Nearly four years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, “children's lives are still consumed by thoughts of survival and not childhood”, UNICEF’s Mr. Mammadzade warned, noting an 11 per cent increase in verified child casualties during 2025, compared to the previous year.
Ukraine update – UNICEF, IFRC
TRT: 02’54”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 16 JANUARY 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Speakers:
- Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Country Representative in Ukraine
- Jaime Wah, IFRC Deputy Head of Delegation for Ukraine (from Kyiv).
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide, UN Geneva Press room, podium speakers, journalists.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Country Representative in Ukraine: “Last night actually there was a major attack and I was receiving updates that many residential areas became without electricity and heating as well. So, it is becoming also kind of national scale emergency that yesterday the Government has discussed and probably will declare emergency nationwide emergency in relation to winter, on top of the war situation already.”
- Wide, podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Country Representative in Ukraine: “Of course, we’re increasingly worried about right now in Kyiv, it's -15°C, it might go even further down next week and millions of families across the country are again enduring days without heating, as I mentioned, electricity and water supplies. So, children and families are in constant survival mode because of that.”
- Medium, journalist.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Country Representative in Ukraine: “Families have actually reverted to stuffing even soft toys to their windows to get – to block - some of the freezing cold.”
- Medium-wide, podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Jaime Wah, IFRC Deputy Head of Delegation for Ukraine (from Kyiv): “The Kharkiv region last night was also hit quite hard. Also, Odessa region around Christmas time there were a couple days where they had no electricity and no heating; but I think in those areas the restoration of those systems took a matter of days for the systems to become at least partially functional. I think in Kyiv, we're facing a situation for sustained outages and also higher populations affected because of it.”
- Medium-wide, podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Country Representative in Ukraine: “Nearly four years into this relentless war, children's lives are still consumed by thoughts of survival and not childhood, unfortunately. And then winter threat follows a tragic also 11 per cent increase in verified child casualties during 2025, comparing to the previous year.”
- Medium-wide, podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Country Representative in Ukraine: “For example, on the 10th floor of one such building in Kyiv’s left bank, Svitlana is doing what she can to care for her three-year-old daughter, Adina. So, she told us that she had no heating or electricity for more than three days, and that was in the first week of disruption - we're already on the second or almost third week - and many families continue to go without, as I mentioned or have sporadic access to key services.”
- Medium, journalist.
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends