Reservation: this is my personal experience that is very much different from what my fellow citizens deal with every day - depending on where they live, their sex, their military status, employment, income, etc.
Regarding the rolling power outages, as a result of Russian attacks we now have the power 2-3 times a day in 3-4 hour blocks. Large cities rely on centralized heating, and heating facilities rely on electricity and/or are being attacked, too, so sometimes we do not have hot water / heating, which is increasingly concerning. Everyone hopes for a warm winter. Some people (myself included) can afford buying battery power storage solutions, so the power outages have little to no effect on everyday lives. But most people adjust their lives around the power supply schedules. Businesses invest in gas/diesel power generators, battery storage, etc. and have largely adjusted, too. Our people are incredibly resilient.
There are three key threats that I experience on a day-to-day basis:
- Existential threat. I do not know if Ukraine is going to continue to exist as a country. This is my country, I was born and raised here, I have my family, friends, career, property, etc. here, so of course I'd rather stay. If Russia takes over, lots of people would try and flee to the west, I think. Even if there is a ceasefire or a peace deal, the threat of a repeated invasion in 5-10-15 years is not going to disappear based on what I see. I cannot leave the country legally (being of draftable age of 25-60) and I don't want to. But do I want my kids (that I'm yet to have) to live here?
- Missile/drone threat. This is the most immediately deadly one. Sometimes every other day, sometimes several times a week, sometimes once a week or every other week the country is subject to a coordinated drone and missile attack. Sometimes drones/missiles hit residential buildings. Sometimes they hit nearby with a blast wave blowing out the windows. Even if they are shot down, there is still gravity, so sometimes debris falls on residential areas causing fires and impact damage. I am lucky to live in an apartment building with underground parking, so I and my wife go there to sleep in our car if it is obvious there is going to be an attack. Sometimes we sit out attacks in our bathroom, which creates an illusion of being protected / might protect us from broken glass. Some people go to subway stations (some even put up tents, etc.), some are hiding in basements. I know people who close the windows to hear less and go to bed because they don't have a shelter nearby. See Exhibit at the bottom of my reply for approximate aerial routes of the missiles/drones (exceeding 500 targets in total) during the most recent attack on December 27 + brief description of what we are bombed with. The proportion of drones/missiles is different each time. But we are talking hundreds of aerial targets.
- Threat of conscription. The conscription is general and mandatory, with some exemptions. I am exempt because I work for a company that is allowed to "reserve" some of its employees because it is "critically important for the functioning of the economy during wartime", meaning that (i) we pay lots of taxes as compared to other companies and (ii) the company does not want to lose me as an employee. This can change, however. I am not a volunteer because I am too afraid. I know people who are fighting, I know people who died fighting, I know people who returned injured or maimed. One can call me a coward, but I'd rather flee than fight. This is no action movie - it is dirty, dangerous and ugly.
Sorry if it's too much. Your question triggered so many thoughts in my head that I decided to share.
Exhibit:
Yellow = drones (each roughly the size of a subcompact car, carrying 60 to 200 lbs of explosives).
Red/green = cruise missiles, functioning like a small airplane, launched from strategic bombers, sea vessels or the ground.
Orange/blue = ballistic missiles, the nastiest kind, most difficult to intercept. Some are launched from the ground, some are launched from the air - the hypersonic variety.
