Life in the darkness: How Ukrainians are coping with Putin’s blackouts

In Ukraine’s Odessa, a new way of life is developing. As Putin targets there – as elsewhere – the city’s power-stations and general infrastructure, people are adapting fast. There are news reports of women drying their hair in electrical stores, or of men plugging in their shavers in shopping malls. One enterprising beautician has set up stall in an underground car park, and gives people manicures by battery-powered light. A local notary’s office, I’m told, finding the electricity cutting out just as they were printing a document, searched the neighbourhood for a café where they could plug in the printer and finish the job. ‘It takes so much of your energy, all this,’ says one Odessan resident. ‘And your time.’

The Odessan lady I’m talking to is Olya, a Ukrainian living five years in Georgia who recently returned to her home city amidst the frequent power-cuts. Though she speaks of the numerous inconveniences caused by them, she looks strangely radiant to have been home and seen her family.