Kyiv hospital, new parents prepare for power cuts
STORY: As this baby girl lets out her first cries at this Kyiv hospital, staff here say they're prepared to help new moms - even as Ukraine fights a war.
There's a generator in the hospital that will automatically kick in - we're ready for any outages, this doctor says.
Many in the Ukrainian capital are bracing for darker days ahead after Russia pummelled the country’s electricity infrastructure with missiles.
Officials have warned of rolling blackouts if people don’t minimize electricity use during the day.
New mother Irina Koladenko has a blackout action plan for when her baby girl comes home.
"I was worried there would be no electricity at home when the blackouts start. At my parent's place there are stoves and a fireplace so it will be warm. I have bought power banks. There were instances in the past when the electricity was cut off but it was only for two, three or four hours so basically it was manageable. I hope I will breastfeed so there will not be a problem with the baby's food.”
The hospital’s director said the facility has been preparing for this since 2014, when Russian forces annexed Crimea from Ukraine and backed a separatist takeover of parts of the east.
The hospital has had a diesel generator for seven years and has redundancy built into the system.
Medical equipment have internal and external batteries - which means patients on respirators - or those undergoing surgeries - wouldn't be affected by power cuts.
But the future is still uncertain for new parents.
Lidia gave birth to a baby boy - Timofii - during a wave of attacks.
While her family is trying to conserve power, has candles and plans to buy gas heaters, moving is not out of the question.
"If the situation in Kyiv gets much worse and there is no heating we will consider moving out of the city to a place where there is a stove."
Moscow says it does not target civilians in Ukraine.
But the defence ministry has acknowledged targeting energy infrastructure in what it calls a "special military operation" to degrade the country's military.
