Indeed, they must stand united against the common enemy from without. But now there is a dispute between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the mayor of the capital Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko. Zelenskyy criticized the work of the Kiev city administration in repairing the damage after the massive Russian attacks on the power supply. “Tonight, 600,000 subscribers in the city are offline,” the president said in his evening video address on Friday. “Many Kiev citizens were without electricity for more than 20 or even 30 hours.” He expects quality work from the city hall.
However, the president did not call Klitschko by name. He was particularly irritated by the fact that there are fewer boiler rooms than necessary in the capital, which has a population of three million. Klitschko reported in the morning that 400 of these touchpoints have been established. In the event of power cuts for more than one day, citizens must be able to warm up there; there must be electricity, water, first aid and internet.
“There are many complaints, especially in Kyiv,” Zelenskyy said. In fact, there are only working boiler rooms in civil defense buildings and at the railway station. “There is still work to be done in other areas, to say the least,” said the president. “Kyiv residents need more protection.”
Across the country, six million consumer points are still without electricity, Zelenskyy said. On the Wednesday night after the Russian attack, there were twelve million consumer points. He warned people to be frugal even when there is light. “Just because there’s electricity doesn’t mean you can run multiple powerful electrical devices at the same time.” Every night there are spikes in consumption, which in turn lead to new power outages.
Zelenskyy and Klitschko suspended their political competition during the war. But it continues, as the president’s statements show. (apa/dpa)