Positive messages, mental health tips, and examples of how to “do your part” are all part of the information ecosystem that helps Ukrainians maintain their morale throughout the war. Experts say this part top-down, part organic approach will play an important role in supporting Ukrainians in what is likely to be a punishing winter. Ukrainian TV channels are airing a series of ads on how people can save energy amid government appeals to consumers to cut back. Under the slogan “The Rules of a Hot Country”, a video advises people to use alternative methods to keep warm, including using hot water bottles and cats, as well as meeting with neighbours. There are also several segments a day featuring Ukrainians across the country showing how they have prepared for the winter. One man interviewed recently said that if there was no electricity or gas, he would set up a tent inside his apartment and sleep in a sleeping bag. Breathing inside a small tent, he said, will retain heat better than a room. On social media, Ukrainians share infographics on which appliances use the most electricity and videos of the recent trend of making candle-light stoves for soldiers in the trenches. Ternopil. Student dormitory. Students make trench candles for the front lines – they can be used for light, warmth and heating water or food. 📹: Dusha Ukrainy pic.twitter.com/L4ojSGOq7G — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 1, 2022 This winter, Ukraine faces the terrifying prospect of sub-zero temperatures with periods without electricity, water and even heating. Over the past month, Russia has been targeting critical elements of Ukraine’s energy sector with a combination of Iranian-supplied missiles, rockets and drones. On Monday alone, Russia targeted at least seven regional power plants and has since attacked at least three more, according to Ukrainian authorities. Ukrainian repairers and power distributors rushed to reconnect and reroute supplies, and blackouts were planned in several areas, including the capital, Kiev, to stabilize the power grid. But Ukrainian officials have warned that these brief outages are likely a small taste of what’s to come. Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, head of Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenergo, said this week that if Russian attacks continue, “power cuts in Ukraine will become longer and longer.” Kudrytskyi said Ukrenergo could not repair the grid as fast as it was being destroyed. According to him, “almost all” of the large non-nuclear power plants in the country have been affected, including 30% of substations. The head of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, said his office was preparing for the fact that power outages could last up to two weeks. News of even worse times to come has, however, not appreciably dented the country’s morale. According to Volodymyr Kulyk, a leading sociology professor, Ukrainians remain defiant and want to prove it. “People are increasingly perceiving Russia as an agent of genocide… [and] they are ready to sacrifice to stay free and stay themselves,” Kulyk said. “[Messages of defiance] Both originate from the people themselves and are also centrally propagated by government, media and influencers.” Top-down messages — particularly those from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the daily briefing from Ukraine’s general staff — play a therapeutic role for many Ukrainians, Kulyk said. “We need this news to know that everything is fine and that there is no disaster with the Ukrainian army,” he said. All government agencies make their own motivational videos – the fire services, the police, the Ministry of Defence, as well as TV channels and private companies. “These social ads that show heroism, of course, do [people] proud,” said Ostapa, head of Detector Media, a media monitoring organization. Psychiatrists and psychologists are regularly invited on Ukrainian television to discuss how people can identify mental health problems in themselves and their loved ones. How to talk to children about war is a particularly important issue. Oleh Chuban, head of psychiatry at a leading medical university in Ukraine and a regular guest on television, said he aimed to tell people that what they were feeling was normal. “The fact that people are worried and stressed, cutting firewood, buying all the generators, it’s a normal reaction. Only an idiot would not react when someone tells them there will be power, water and heating cuts,” Chaban said. “People save themselves, like during Covid 19.” “The media has a lot of influence [on people] So I try to give them optimism and explain that their concerns are natural and prove that there are people living with (functioning) emotions,” Chaban said. On Tuesday, Zelensky addressed the nation stressing the need for perseverance. “Instead of overcoming poverty in their country, the Russian leadership is spending everything to avoid admitting what a historic mistake they made with this war against Ukraine,” he said. “Patience is needed to prove that the winter hope for Russian terrorists will not come true. I’m sure we’ll get through this.”