According to him, around 600,000 people have heeded the call since January 9, after drone and missile attacks cut off electricity, water and heating in large parts of the city as temperatures plunged to minus 20 degrees Celsius, reports AFP.
Klitschko said in the interview, during which air raid sirens sounded, that the number of inhabitants has decreased.
The temperature goes up to minus 20
“Not everyone has the opportunity to leave the city, but at the moment the population is reduced,” said Klitschko, specifying that 600,000 people have moved out of the capital, which has around 3.6 million inhabitants.
“The temperature is almost minus 20, and Putin uses that to break the resistance, to push everyone into depression, to create tension in society,” said Klitschko.
He again called on people who have alternative accommodation to leave the city to reduce pressure on the capital’s power grid.
Constant attacks on infrastructure
In the Russian drone and missile attacks on January 9, half of all residential buildings in Kiev – about 6,000 buildings – were left without heating.
Russian forces have since carried out several more large-scale attacks, including one on the night before the interview, when hundreds of thousands of people in Kiev were left without electricity, heat and water again.
Long blackouts have become common since Russian forces began targeting Ukrainian energy facilities in 2022.
Some residents now say they only have electricity for one or two hours a day, if at all. AFP journalists in Kyiv noted that shops and restaurants were closed due to power outages, traffic lights were not working, and public lighting was turned off at night in parts of the city.
“We are fighting to survive”
“You can imagine what it’s like if you don’t have electricity, you don’t have water at home. You can’t take a shower. Your radiators are cold. The situation is very critical. We are fighting to survive and we are fighting to provide people with services – heating, water, electricity,” Klitschko added.
Klitschko, a former world boxing champion who has been in office since 2014, has come under fire from the presidential office for the city’s response to the attacks.
The solution to the problem, Klitschko told AFP, would be to build a completely new energy system, but this is not possible while the conflict continues. He said the repairs were being hampered by cold temperatures and constant air strikes forcing workers on the ground to seek shelter.
“Everything currently depends on anti-missile systems that repel new Russian attacks,” concluded Klitschko, reports Index.hr.
(Vijesti.ba)
