Russian strikes leave 30% of Kyiv schools without heat

Heating was cut in over 30 percent of schools in Ukraine's capital following Russian strikes on the power grid, Kyiv authorities said Friday, detailing a temporary solution to merge facilities.

Moscow has in recent months conducted a series of massive drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, causing extensive power, water and heating outages.

The attacks come at a moment of particularly biting temperatures in Ukraine, which have dropped to as low as -20C throughout winter.

Following the strikes, 315 schools and kindergartens in Kyiv "were left without heating", municipal authorities said, adding that the figure amounted to "more than 30 percent of all the city's educational institutions".

"Schools are temporarily merging so that children can continue their in-person education," authorities said.

Some 110,000 pupils returned to class in early February after school holidays, with some students attending remotely.

Between Wednesday and Thursday overnight, a round of Russian strikes left thousands of buildings in the capital without heating.

With a pre-war population of around three million, Kyiv has three large power plants that provide electricity and heating. Each of them has been damaged several times by Russian attacks in recent years.