‘Show them the ruins’: Inside Kyiv’s destroyed Darnytsia CHP plant
By late Jan. 2026, the station had stopped generating electricity after sustaining significant damage, but overnight into Feb. 3 the enemy also destroyed its thermal generation system. (Photo: Serhii Okunev / NV)
The winter of 2025—2026 has become the harshest Ukrainians
have faced since Russia launched its full-scale invasion — and, by many
measures, since Ukraine gained independence. Russian forces have targeted not
only power stations but also heat-generation facilities that supply cities with
hot water and heating. As a result, beyond the expected electricity shortages,
heating itself has become one of the most painful problems of the season.
Nowhere has that been felt more sharply than in Kyiv.
In February, Russian strikes inflicted devastating damage on
the Darnytsia combined heat and power plant, which had supplied heating and hot
water to more than 1,000 buildings on the left bank of the capital. NV
correspondent Serhii Okunev was granted access to the shattered facility to see
firsthand what remains — and why thousands of residents were left without heat.
Thirteen ballistic missiles: How Kyiv’s Darnytsia CHP plant was taken offline
The Darnytsia CHP plant is one of Kyiv’s key energy
facilities, providing heating, hot water and electricity to residents of the
Dniprovskyi District and parts of the Darnytskyi District. Before the attacks,
1,129 residential buildings, 46 educational institutions, 72 kindergartens and
18 medical facilities depended on the station.
Overnight into Feb. 3, the plant was completely shut down
after another massive strike. It was not the first — the destruction had been
methodical. Since Aug. 28, 2025, the facility had been hit nine times by
missile and drone attacks.
By late January 2026, the station had already stopped
generating electricity after sustaining severe damage. But overnight into Feb.
3, Russian forces destroyed the thermal generation system as well, firing five
ballistic missiles at the plant and bringing it to a complete halt. Since
August, the facility has been struck by 13 Iskander or similar missiles in
total.
The scale of the damage becomes clear only when staff allow
journalists to film more than is normally permitted. There is little left to
conceal — nearly everything has already been destroyed.
Even visitors unfamiliar with how such facilities operate
quickly grasp how critical the damage is. Across the site lie massive pipes
roughly one meter (about 3 feet) in diameter. Some are torn apart; others are
grotesquely warped. At first glance, the destruction hardly looks like the
result of missiles and drones — it resembles the aftermath of heavy machine-gun
fire. Workers and contractors are already trying to repair the most critical
sections.
“Film it, film it — and show those who ask why there’s no
heating,” one worker says, gripping a gas torch as he gestures toward the
wreckage.
At facilities like this, staff usually shy away from
cameras, sometimes asking journalists not to film at all. Here, the reaction is
the opposite. One worker involved in emergency repairs says he is genuinely
outraged when he hears complaints or accusations from residents about the lack
of heating.
Given the frequency and scale of the attacks, he says, the
plant could have been forced offline much earlier if not for the staff’s
constant efforts to restore and protect damaged equipment — often under fire.
The pipes, however, are only part of the problem.
Large sections of the machine hall and other critical nodes
responsible for both electricity and heating have been destroyed. Some
equipment is buried under enormous icicles and layers of ice that have built up
to more than 10 meters (about 33 feet) high.
Several media outlets have reported that the plant could be
restored within two months. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, however, said repairs would take “no less
than two months” — and only if there are no new strikes or additional damage.
Workers are laboring almost around the clock. Still, they
note, no one anywhere in the world has previously faced this kind of sustained
attack on heat-generation facilities — or the need to salvage equipment at
temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit).
For the people working inside Darnytsia’s wreckage, the explanation is simple. The heat did not disappear because of mismanagement or neglect. It was blasted apart — piece by piece — and they want the country to see it.
The military war may be swinging in our favor, but the information war continues.
Just as an army needs soldiers, so does a free society need its journalists to ensure that people have access to honest, trustworthy voices to understand the world around them.
For the past five years, The New Voice of Ukraine has been working tirelessly to push back against Russian narratives and defend democracy. But we cannot do it alone.
Please consider supporting us on Patreon for just $5 a month – your donation does directly to supporting journalists and ensuring that this front of the infowar says solid and defended.
Thank you.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
