In the daytime, Chernykh and her baby cousin mostly stayed put under several blankets in the darkness. There was no heating during the first and the coldest winter of the siege, when temperatures outside sometimes plunged to -40 degrees C (-40 degrees F).
Emini, uChernykh nomzala wakhe omncane babechitha isikhathi esiningi behlezi ngaphansi kwezingubo ezimbadlwana ebumnyameni. Kwakungekho okokufudumala phakathi nobusika bokuqala nobubanda kakhulu bokuvinjezelwa, lapho amazinga okushisa ngaphandle ehla abe ku-40 degrees C (-40 degrees F).