The struggle to save the tropical plants of Kyiv's Botanical Garden

Liudmyla Buiun, Head of Tropical and Subtropical Plants Department, stands near a barrel with firewood for heating in a tropical greenhouse, suffering from low temperatures, in a botanical garden after critical energy infrastructure was hit by Russian military attacks in Ukraine, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 22, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

In the lush greenhouses of Kyiv's National Botanical Garden, staff are struggling to save a decades-old collection of tropical plants after months of Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid led to electricity outages, threatening the garden's heating supply.

"These collections cannot be restored. This is not a greenhouse with cucumbers and tomatoes... The loss of this collection would be a great national loss for Ukraine," said Lyudmyla Buiun, responsible for tropical and subtropical plants.