Kyiv residents leave as Russian attacks intensify before winter

Kyiv under attack

Russia's attacks on Kyiv have continued day and night since August, making life in the Ukrainian capital more dangerous and exhausting. With winter approaching, some residents are leaving for rural areas or abroad.

Families leave

Maria, whose children Artur and Kira were born after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, is leaving the city. She said she does not feel safe in Ukraine and cannot rest. She had thought she would be the last person to leave, but life in Kyiv over the past year gave her plenty of reasons. Last winter was brutal, with Russian attacks on the power grid leaving people without heat and light. She said the family could not survive in those conditions and she did not want another winter like that. Everything changed in late August and early September, when Kyiv began to be attacked around the clock. Maria and her children are now on a train bound for Vienna, then Egypt, which is cheaper and warmer than Europe and safer than Kyiv. Her husband, Yuri, is staying behind, and the family expects a long separation.

Olena is also getting out, but her solution is a house a couple of hours outside Kyiv. She chose a village without factories, storage sites or railway stations, which could become Russian targets. She said it is small and needs some work, but she plans to spend most of the winter there. She said it is peaceful.

Winter and infrastructure

Polls cited in the coverage suggest as many as 40 per cent of people living in Ukrainian cities are thinking of leaving if the situation gets worse. It is hard to know how many will actually go.

A Kyiv-based analyst said the bombing campaign has two effects. There are relentless strikes, often using new-generation jet drones that Ukraine's current air defences cannot intercept, creating uncertainty and disrupting businesses, schools and public transport. There are also attacks on infrastructure, aimed at Ukraine's economy and municipal services such as heating, water and electricity. The first power cuts were reported in recent days. The analyst warned that the city could reach a point of complete breakdown and become realistically unlivable.

Diplomatic push

Diplomatic talks were also in focus. Ukrainian and European officials were expected in Miami at the weekend, where President Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were due to present new ideas to break the stalemate. A Kyiv-based analyst said Russia has little interest in compromise and is escalating, so more pressure on Vladimir Putin is needed, mainly from the United States. President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for US help for Ukraine to gain air superiority, including access to the Starlink system over Russia, which is currently blocked. He said this would let Ukraine target launch sites used to attack Ukrainian cities. The analyst said Ukrainians remain exhausted but see no alternative, because the choice is to resist or risk Ukraine ceasing to exist.