Office Impulse

Office in a semi-basement at -20°C: how AMI survived the winter of 2025-2026

The project “Office Impulse” has been completed. In two months, the team went through a shortage of equipment, an exciting market and frosts in the office up to +7°C. It came out with a completely autonomous infrastructure.

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1. As everything was

AMI office is located in a semi-basement in Kharkiv with high humidity. The winter of 2025-2026 turned out to be one of the most difficult: frosts down to -23°C, blackout of up to 15-19 hours per day according to the new Kharkivoblenergo schedules, massive shelling on February 3, 2026, after which about 900 houses of the city were simultaneously left without heat and electricity.

The International Renaissance Foundation supported AMI's application for technical equipment of the office within the framework of the program “Resilience in Emergency Conditions”. The budget was 379 320 UAH The team had two months, from December 2025 to February 2026.

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‍2. Impressive results

The entire procurement cycle was completed on February 13-15, 2026, in fact in the last days of the project. The reason is simple: scarcity. Charging stations, generators, SSD drives disappeared from online platforms within hours. The team monitored dozens of positions daily for over a month and eventually purchased everything in one day when the necessary equipment appeared at the same time.

The public tender did not yield results: of all requests to Comfy, Rozetka, Elmir, Foxtrot, MOYO and other suppliers, only “Elmir” submitted a commercial offer, but it either did not meet the technical requirements or significantly exceeded the market price. The tender was recognized as having not taken place.

As a result, the organization received a generator, two charging stations, network chargers, an air dryer, an infrared heater, a laptop, a BFU, five power banks, five portable flashlights and external SSD drives. Stationary office and a full-fledged mobile work complex for visits to the community.

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3. Challenges and Achievements

Part of the equipment arrived during the sale. The heater raised the temperature in the office from +7°C to the working one. In frosts of -20°C, the portable heater did not solve the issue of a full working day, and the team mostly worked from home. The power banks and charging stations received in the second half of the project ensured continuity of operation in both modes.

A separate challenge was communication with the donor: both the AMI team and representatives of the MFF were periodically without light and Internet at the same time. Procurement approvals required prior approval, and suppliers extended bills for only three business days. The team worked in a limited time mode.

No budget position has changed. All purchases are made according to the requirements of the donor.

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4. Impact on the community

The uninterrupted work of AMI in frontline Kharkov means one thing: people continue to receive free legal assistance regardless of whether there is light. Internally displaced persons, low-mobility residents, elderly people from the communities of Kharkiv region did not experience a break in the work of the organization even in the most difficult weeks of winter.

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5. What the project left

The equipment is integrated into the daily work of the organization. Autonomous infrastructure reduces operating costs by approximately 25-30%. A mobile office makes it possible to work directly in communities without returning to a stationary room.

The team came out of the project with practical experience in anti-crisis purchasing management. Daily market monitoring, negotiations with suppliers in times of shortage, non-standard procedures with the donor, all documented and became an organizational asset for subsequent projects.

The project was implemented with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the program “Sustainability in Emergency Conditions - 2025”.