It seemed like the perfect Friday night. Four friends enjoy a candlelit dinner in an upscale pizzeria in Kyiv. Except the candles weren’t for ambiance and the staff had to take out the few remaining hot pizzas because the power had just gone out. This is life in Kyiv: regular blackouts, constant air raid sirens and renewed fears of Russian missile attacks. The country was rocked by another series of strikes on Monday that damaged 18 power stations, including one in Kyiv that supplies electricity to 350,000 apartments. Over the past three weeks, Russia has focused its attacks on Ukraine’s electricity, water and heating services. The damage forced energy suppliers to introduce rolling blackouts for up to four hours at a time. Many Kyiv residents and small business owners are taking steps gradually and adjusting to life where electricity is no longer reliable. Some have bought camp stoves, extra blankets, candles, canned meat and bottled water. Facebook groups have sprung up offering tips on how to get by without power, and several apartment buildings have begun installing “survival kits” in elevators. Packs include water, energy bars, flashlight and adult diapers, and a few drops of bubbly mix to keep the kids busy. Waiters at the Takava cafe in central Kyiv use a stove to learn how to make coffee during the blackout. Anna Liminowicz / The Globe and Mail The uneven power supply has also affected the city’s heating systems. Like many urban centers in Ukraine, Kyiv has central heating units that power entire neighborhoods. Without power, these units do not work. But people in Kyiv respond with resilience and defiance. “We will live without Russia, even if it means going without light, without heat, without anything. And it’s okay,” said Olena Shvorka who was among the diners Friday at the Mimosa pizzeria. Ms Shvorka, her husband and two friends had just ordered their food when the power went out. Everyone clapped and then waited as the staff frantically served what they could while the dishes remained warm. One of Ms. Shvorka’s dinner companions, Julia Logovinovska, had just arrived from Germany for a visit. He had left Kyiv shortly after the war began on February 24, but is now considering returning to Ukraine despite the challenges. “It’s just life here in Kyiv right now and we’ll live with it,” he said. “Here I see that everyone is working with the same vision, with the same spirit and it’s not just about power and electricity.” When the power went out in the Kiev suburb of Bucha on Friday night, Serhii Prylutskyi threw some battery-operated Christmas lights into his kitchen. He then invited four friends to join him for a meal of chicken, potatoes and mushrooms that he had managed to cook earlier. This was the second power outage in the building that day, but none of his friends complained as he climbed the 10 floors to Mr. Prylutskyi’s apartment. They had lived through the horrors of the Russian occupation of Bukha last March, so being without power for a few hours was no hardship. Luidmyla Petrova, center, leads a team of volunteers and staff at a charity in Kyiv called Good Bread from Good People as they struggle to bake dozens of loaves of bread before one of the city’s regular blackouts. Anna Liminowicz / The Globe and Mail “I have no frustration because many people don’t have homes at all,” Mr Prylutskyi said. “Some of the people lost their family.” Shortly after the men had finished eating, the lights suddenly came on after two hours of darkness and there was a cheer. For small businesses, however, power outages are a huge headache like most faced a slowing economy and soaring inflation. At the Takava cafe in central Kiev, staff pour hot coffee into thermoses and rely on a small camp stove to get through the blackout. One of the waiters, Roman Kuznetsov, said the biggest problem was that the power cuts happened at random times, meaning the cafe couldn’t plan. “Sometimes there are two power outages a day,” he said. The shop also has to close if the air raid sirens sound, which makes even less time to sell coffee and cakes. As of Oct. 10, Mr. Kuznetsov estimated business had halved. During a power outage on Friday around noon there were only a few customers. “We are almost all the time ready to sell our products. But people are afraid of sirens,” he said. They stay at home and don’t go downtown as much. Customers at a restaurant in central Kyiv wait for power to be restored during a regular blackout. Anna Liminowicz / The Globe and Mail At a charity called Good Bread from Good People, a team of staff and volunteers race against the clock every morning to bake as many loaves as possible before the lights go out and their three giant ovens close. The charity employs around 20 disabled people and aims to make 8,000 loaves of bread a week, plus hundreds of biscuits. They are sending the food to people in Kharkiv as well as towns and villages further east that were recently recaptured by the Ukrainian army. Luidmyla Petrova, who oversees the production, keeps everyone focused on the project. On Saturday morning Mrs. Petrova had called ahead to see if the building had electricity. When he succeeded, he arrived with seven employees and they started working like machines: mixing the dough, rolling it into loaves and putting them in the ovens as quickly as possible. Each loaf takes about 20 minutes to bake, and Ms. Petrova watched the clock almost every time a rack went into the oven. If the power goes out, all bread baking would have to stop. The rest of the dough would be stored in the freezer, hoping it would stay cold. “It’s a very big problem trying to prepare,” he said. “We don’t know when we will have power.” Fortunately, in the early afternoon, Ms. Petrova and her crew made it without interruption and managed to reach their goal of 1,500 loaves. But Monday morning would present a whole new challenge. “We’re just hoping we have enough power,” he said wearily. An almost empty Besarabsky market in central Kyiv as a regular power outage hits part of the city’s core. Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail