Heat and hot water

On Nov. 19, residents of Kyiv’s Zoolohichna Street blocked the road in an act of protest. The people were angry that their buildings had been without heating for a month — despite Kyiv seeing its first snowfall of the season and temperatures regularly hovering below freezing. The utilities service blamed the problem on a breakdown that was under repair.

If that explanation sounds unconvincing, it is also one that residents of Kyiv have long heard. Kyivans and people across Ukraine have gotten used to outages of heating, hot water and power. In fact, some residents of the capital have not had hot water for six months.