A quiet but deeply dangerous humanitarian emergency is unfolding in Kriviy Rih, one of Ukraine’s largest industrial cities. While global attention remains fixed on major battlefield developments, thousands of seniors in the region are enduring conditions that would be unimaginable anywhere else. Entire high-rise neighborhoods are now living with up to six consecutive days without running water, no heat, and daily blackouts lasting 10 to 12 hours. For older adults—many living alone or with limited mobility—the situation has become life-threatening. Without electricity, they cannot heat food, boil water, use small medical devices, refrigerate groceries, or charge phones to call for help. When elevators shut down for most of the day, many seniors become trapped in their apartments, isolated in cold, dark rooms with no way out. This is the Kriviy Rih humanitarian emergency—an urgent crisis largely invisible to the outside world, yet devastating to those living through it.
Amid this collapse, Hope For Ukraine has become one of the few organizations delivering immediate, practical support. Through its Solar Energy Resilience Program, portable solar-powered generators are being delivered directly to seniors in the hardest-hit areas. These systems are compact, safe for indoor use, and powerful enough to sustain the basics that keep people alive. With a single solar generator, a senior can keep lights on during long blackout cycles, charge a phone to stay in contact with family and emergency responders, run small heaters and stoves to reduce cold-related risks, and use water-purification devices and kitchen tools to compensate for multi-day water outages. For elderly residents who cannot evacuate high-rise buildings, each solar unit becomes not just a source of electricity but a source of safety, dignity, and connection.
Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope For Ukraine, receives near-daily reports from HFU’s field teams in Kriviy Rih. “Seniors are living in freezing apartments with no electricity and no water for days at a time,” Boyechko said. “Every solar generator we deliver restores something essential—light, heat, communication. These are conditions no civilian, especially the elderly, should ever face.” HFU originally developed the Solar Energy Resilience Program to help families survive nationwide winter blackouts, but Kriviy Rih’s infrastructure collapse has made the city one of the organization’s most urgent priorities. You can read more about HFU’s broader mission here: Hope For Ukraine Mission Statement.
Despite HFU’s expanding efforts, the need in Kriviy Rih far exceeds available resources. Water outages are lasting longer, blackout hours are increasing, and thousands of seniors remain on waiting lists for solar generators—each day without support putting them at greater risk. Yet every unit delivered represents a life stabilized, a room no longer swallowed by darkness, a vulnerable person kept warm, fed, and connected.
For additional information, field stories, or images from Kriviy Rih, Yuriy Boyechko is available to speak and offer firsthand accounts from HFU teams on the ground, as Hope For Ukraine continues working to protect seniors surviving some of the harshest civilian conditions of the war.