KYIV, Ukraine – “We had already started surgery – a Caesarean-section,” recalled Nataliia Heints, a senior doctor at the Kyiv Regional Perinatal Centre. “But at the beginning of the operation, the electricity went out.”
It was a freezing morning in January when the power was cut in Kyiv. Across Ukraine, targeted strikes by the Russian Federation over the past months have knocked out power, heating, and running water for millions of households, while temperatures have plummeted to -20° C.
Inside the maternity hospital, health workers fought to keep women and newborns alive. Operating theatre lights, oxygen systems, incubators, blood storage – all these depend on stable power, but the teams didn’t stop.
“We have no right to panic,” Dr. Heints told UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, which is the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency. “We continue our work.”
She didn’t want the patient on her operating table to feel the fear of a health system under attack. “She saw that the light disappeared, that’s all. She was focused on the birth of her child.”
Families at home face the same outages
Electricity is critical for warmth – and for babies, warmth means survival. In the neonatal unit, doctors use a transport incubator to move babies from delivery rooms to intensive care while keeping the cold out.
“We have no right to panic; we continue our work” – Dr. Heints
Newborns are particularly vulnerable to hypothermia, as their temperature can drop quickly in the first minutes after delivery. Staff at the centre described deploying a ‘thermal chain’ of warming measures – from mobile and stationary incubators to heated rooms and extra blankets – to keep newborns stable, especially premature babies.
But power cuts put this chain at risk, and that doesn’t stop once mother and baby are home. Iryna, pregnant with her second child, said, “Because of the outages, there’s no back-up power, and the house doesn’t have time to warm up. Plus it cools down quickly.”
Her solution is familiar across Ukraine this winter: layers, improvization, endurance. “We bundle up. We try to keep warm.”
Stress is showing up in delivery rooms
From frequent displacement to disrupted services, health workers described how the war is impacting birth patterns in Ukraine and fuelling complications. Premature birth rates have increased, which doctors are linking to acute and prolonged stress: In frontline areas, rates are reported to be roughly double the national average.
They are also seeing more potentially life-threatening obstetric emergencies, including hypertension and uterine rupture – all of which indicate a maternal health system operating under severe strain.
In contexts like these, reliable power becomes central to care, as it shapes whether an overwhelmed health system can respond to complications while women and newborns are at their most vulnerable.
The Ukrainian doctors and nurses keeping it all running
The Ukrainian health system has been forced to adapt – through innovative care, improvized safeguards, and the unwavering dedication of its workforce. Dr. Heints described this as the hardest period of the full-scale invasion so far – both emotionally and physically.
“We are also people. We also suffer. But we have to keep going” – Dr. Heints
After intense, lengthy shifts, health workers return to apartments where there may also be no light, heat or running water. “Despite bad weather, shelling or air raid alerts, we still have to pull ourselves together and go to work, leaving our children or grandchildren at home,” explained Dr. Heints.
“And when we arrive, our patients shouldn’t see our anxiety. Because we are responsible not only for ourselves, but for other people’s lives.”
The burden is cumulative, though.
“We are also people. We have our own children and families,” she said. “We also get sick. We also feel afraid. We also suffer. But we have to keep going.”
Adapting to avoid collapse
With the support of UNFPA, the perinatal centre has constructed a layered back-up power system – including solar panels and an emergency generator – designed to hold power long enough to continue essential procedures when the grid fails, and ensuring the most vulnerable patients receive life-sustaining support.
For the most part it functions, but it’s expensive; these systems are designed as back-ups, not permanent substitutes. Even when they do work, they impose constant operational strain through demand for fuel, functioning batteries, equipment and staff hours.
In Ukraine’s war economy, hospitals are often already overstretched: While the government prioritizes hospitals to receive fuel and equipment, significant financial constraints mean that much of the country’s life-saving energy supplies have been donated by foreign governments.
UNFPA is also supporting other maternity hospitals across the country with back-up energy systems and a steady supply of life-saving sexual and reproductive health essentials. Still, as winter deepens and the power grid remains a target, experts emphasize that maternity hospitals can keep the lights on, the incubators warm, the oxygen flowing, and the thermal chain intact only with continued international support.
