Kyiv War Costs: Energy, Food and School Hours Hit Household Budgets

Kyiv's residents are absorbing new costs as strikes disrupt power, food supplies and school hours.

The Kyiv Military Administration reported 140 people killed in the capital during the first eight months of 2026, against 172 across all of 2025. Emergency power outages returned at the end of September. A Russian attack paralyzed the subway. Strikes on warehouses have produced supermarket shortages on a scale not seen since the early months of the war.

Energy infrastructure under fire has left the city unable to state how it will reliably supply heat, electricity and water this winter. The subway, which serves as a nightly shelter, was also hit. From about 10 each night, residents lay out mattresses and set up small tents in stations, with children and pets among the sleepers along the walls.

Household routines carry direct costs. If an alarm sounds in the morning while children are at home, they may miss school. A DW Kyiv bureau colleague whose daughter attends school near the Antonov aircraft factory described the strain on parents who must go to work while a child stays home alone. In early October, a drone struck a school building in southwestern Kyiv; pupils and teachers were already in shelters. Principal Valentyna Chorna said the school has kept teaching everyone in person because its large shelter can hold more than 500 students, covering grades one through nine. Whether lessons go ahead depends on shelter availability and the length of a siren.

The attacks have killed residents in their homes. In September, 14-year-old Daniel Umanskyj was doing homework in his room when a Russian drone hit an apartment building in the central Pechersk district. A neighbor, Vlad, was in the hallway with his daughter. "We were late that day, and this saved our lives," he said. In the Lukyanivka district, which Russia has repeatedly targeted during the war's four years and eight months, a woman named Halyna takes her 5-year-old son, Roman, to the nearest station on most evenings, even without a siren. "We're alive," she said. "We've been lucky once again."

Authorities have adjusted operations in response to the alert schedule. The curfew now runs from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., and some facilities may operate during "yellow" alerts. During "red" alerts, which can signal ballistic or cruise missiles or large combined attacks, people must take shelter immediately. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology reported in early October that 72% of the city's residents said in September they were ready to endure the war as long as necessary.

If the current pace of deaths holds, 2026 could become the deadliest year for Kyiv since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.