Heatless: The Energy Crisis in Kyiv's Telegram Chats. Collecting Materials for the Telegram Archive of the War

Telegram became the most popular platform and messenger for emergency communication and networking during the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. TG Archive of the War contains 37 thematic collections of saved channel posts and users' chat communications from the first 473 days after February 24, 2022.

We renew data collection to document testimonies in the home chats of Kyiv residents on Telegram about the consequences of the energy crisis that arose during the 2025–2026 heating season, resulting from Russia's shelling of the capital's CHP plants.

• How did you and your neighbours live and overcome the challenges of last winter?
• How did utility workers eliminate the breakdowns in your apartment block?
• How long was there no heating, and was the heat supply restored to your homes?
• Were heating points installed nearby?

The collected materials will be stored in the TG Archive of the War, which is accessible via the TG Research platform only after an access application has been reviewed and approved, and only for a limited period. No personal data from the chats will be freely accessible, and any such data included in research publications will be anonymised.

To participate and submit a digital copy of your chat history to the TG Archive, please fill out the Google Form.

If you have any questions, please contact o.avramenko@lvivcenter.org.ua

Credits

Cover Image: fragments of TG Archive materials