Kyiv Mayor Klitschko urges residents to 'temporarily leave city' as Russia targets critical infrastructure
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko called on residents of the capital, if possible, to leave the city after a Russian attack on Jan. 9 left half of the city's apartment buildings without heating.
As temperatures dropped below -10°C (14°F), Russia launched a mass attack on Ukraine overnight with 242 drones and 36 missiles, with Kyiv and its surrounding areas being the primary targets, the Air Force reported. The attack hit energy infrastructure facilities and multiple residential buildings in the capital, killing at least four people and injuring 19 others.
"We are doing everything we can to resolve this as quickly as possible. However, the combined attack on Kyiv last night was the most devastating for the capital's critical infrastructure," Klitschko said.
As of the time of publication, heating was knocked out in about 6,000 apartment buildings across Kyiv — nearly half of the city's total — following the Russian attack overnight, according to the mayor.
The city is also facing water supply interruptions, with emergency power outages being introduced.
"I appeal to the residents of the capital, who have the opportunity to temporarily leave the city for places where there are alternative sources of power and heat, to do so," Klitschko said.
The mayor said that hospitals and maternity wards have been reconnected to power and heating. Efforts to restore power and heating for residential homes in Kyiv is ongoing.
Mykola Kolisnyk, deputy energy minister, said that the fewer consumers there are, "the easier it is to handle the situation." If there is no heating supply, residents start using electricity to heat their homes, which, in turn, increases electricity consumption, the official added.
"This is why, when the population is more, let's say spread across villages and other regions, there will be less pressure specifically in one city," Kolisnyk told the Kyiv Independent.
Kyiv, home to around 4 million people, has endured multiple of Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure since the start of the full-scale war in 2022. Over past months, Moscow has continued pounding energy facilities, with Ukrainian officials warning that Russia is attempting to shut down the energy grid region by region.
In recent days, Russia has targeted regional capitals in the east and south, leaving Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts without power on the evening of Jan. 7.
Russian forces also targeted critical infrastructure in the western Lviv Oblast overnight on Jan. 9, launching its new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile.
