KYIV (Reuters) – When the lights go out and the power goes down in Kyiv, 18-year-old manicurist Elyzaveta Litvynchuk takes her gel lamp, electric nail file and her clients to one of the capital’s “invincibility points” which offer back-up electricity from generators.
The centres were started by Ukrainian authorities but local people and volunteers have since created their own, such as the Greenhouse invincibility point in a school building, following months of power outages as Russia bombs Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
With her gel manicure power lamp plugged in, Litvynchuk tended to the nails of a client, while others charged phones or worked at laptops.
“We would like our Greenhouse to become a so-called magnet in this area. So people can meet each other and help each other in the future,” said its director Andrii Yerofeev.
(Reporting by Yurii Kovalenko, Stefaniia Bern, Writing by Alexandra Hudson and Angus MacSwan)
