Ukrainian actress and comedian Iryna Soponaru has announced plans to leave Kyiv and spend the winter in Chernivtsi with her husband Rhys following severe blackouts.
The television personality and her foreign husband made the decision after enduring continuous bombardment across the Ukrainian capital alongside ongoing power cuts that disrupted daily life and left the couple unable to sleep.
Speaking during an appearance on the project Alone with Glamour, Soponaru said that she and Rhys had held out for as long as possible. She explained that conditions became especially difficult from August, but the strain of enduring several consecutive weeks without normal sleep eventually became intolerable.
The exhaustion began to affect her mental state severely. Soponaru said that she felt her mind slipping and even considered booking an appointment with a psychologist or seeking medical prescriptions, only to discover that her distress was the direct result of prolonged sleep deprivation.
Winter relocation to Chernivtsi
Soponaru disclosed that the couple will relocate to her hometown of Chernivtsi in western Ukraine, where they will stay with her parents throughout the winter months. She stated that they will definitely remain there until the winter ends to escape the severe blackouts, before making their return to Kyiv.
Chernivtsi, situated in southwestern Ukraine close to the border with Romania, has seen significantly less damage to civilian infrastructure than cities in central and eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian capital has been targeted by repeated waves of strikes against power stations and electrical grids, leaving millions of residents coping with scheduled outages and unheated homes in freezing weather.
Celebrity departures from Kyiv
Looking ahead, Soponaru acknowledged that she does not know what circumstances will await them by spring, but explained that waiting out the worst of the power shortages remains their primary goal for the season.
Her relocation follows the departure of fellow Ukrainian actress Viktoriya Maremukha, who previously left Ukraine alongside her four-year-old son, though Maremukha later noted that she already missed her home.
