Eight months pregnant and living without electricity or heat in war-torn Kyiv, Yuliia Chumak faces giving birth under conditions that would terrify most mothers, yet she refuses to leave the city she calls home.
Story Overview
- Pregnant mother Yuliia Chumak endures blackouts and freezing temperatures in Kyiv while preparing for childbirth
- Russian attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure have left civilians without power and heating during brutal winter months
- Despite dangerous conditions, Chumak chooses to remain in Kyiv with her three-year-old child rather than evacuate
- Kyiv hospitals continue maternity services using backup generators while the city struggles with persistent power outages
A Mother’s Defiant Choice in the Face of War
Yuliia Chumak sits in her darkened Kyiv apartment, eight months pregnant and shivering without heat, yet her resolve remains unshaken. The sustained Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has plunged large sections of the capital into darkness, leaving families like Chumak’s to navigate winter’s brutal cold without basic utilities. Her three-year-old child and dog share this precarious existence, where warmth comes from bundled blankets and light from whatever battery-powered sources they can find.
The attacks on power stations and electrical grids represent more than military strategy—they constitute warfare against the civilian population. Pregnant women, elderly residents, and young children bear the heaviest burden as temperatures plummet and essential services strain under impossible conditions. Yet Chumak’s decision to stay reveals something profound about human attachment to place and purpose.
When Hospitals Become Fortresses of Hope
Kyiv’s medical facilities operate on borrowed time and backup generators, their emergency power systems humming constantly to maintain critical maternity care. Doctors and nurses work under dim emergency lighting, knowing that each delivery could be complicated by power failures at crucial moments. The generators provide enough electricity for essential equipment, but the hospitals lack the warmth and comfort that new mothers and their babies desperately need during recovery.
Medical professionals face impossible choices daily, rationing power between life-saving equipment and basic comfort systems. The maternity wards continue functioning through sheer determination and international support, but the strain shows in every exhausted face and every careful calculation of resource allocation. These healthcare workers understand that they serve as the last line of defense between civilian families and complete humanitarian collapse.
The Philosophy of Imperfect Timing
Chumak’s words cut through the complexity of wartime decision-making with startling clarity: “There will never be a good moment to give birth to a child. Ideal conditions, an ideal country. There will always be a risk of some crisis, some conflict. What shall we do now? Stop living?” Her perspective challenges the notion that life should pause for perfect circumstances, instead embracing the messiness of human existence during extraordinary times.
Her love for Kyiv extends beyond sentiment to practical considerations—she maintains meaningful employment and professional relationships that evacuation would destroy. The decision to remain represents calculated risk-taking rather than reckless endangerment. Chumak weighs her child’s need for stability and continuity against the undeniable dangers of remaining in a city under attack, choosing the devil she knows over uncertain refuge elsewhere.
Sources:
Paraluman: Personal Story – Pregnant mother in Kyiv braves power cuts and cold
