Kyiv’s botanical garden staring at disaster as Russia targets Ukraine’s energy sector

Destruction of Ukraine's energy infrastructure puts botanical garden's rare and exotic species in danger

Zhanna Yaroslavska showed off a barrel-shaped stove in the middle of a tropical greenhouse. Nearby was a large pile of logs. It's a pretty neanderthal arrangement," she explained. When the power shuts off we feed the stove with wood. In winter we do this round the clock. Our plants require constant temperatures. They don't like cold and hot."

Inside the glass nursery were dozens of rare specimens. All were bromeliads native to the Americas. Silvery wisps of beard-like Tillandsia descended from a pipe. A pineapple poked out of a stem. A screen next to the stove protected a group of starfish-like earth stars, native to Brazil. The collection needed a minimum temperature of 10C, Yaroslavska - a senior researcher - said. Below that everything would die off.