In an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said power outages in Kyiv may continue until the spring.
“We are trying to restore everything as quickly as possible, switch to clear schedules so there are no surprises, and then switch to an uninterrupted supply of electricity. But we must be prepared for the fact that there may be outages until spring,” Klitschko said.
The mayor also commented on his words about the possible relocation of Kyiv residents to the suburbs. He urged residents to stock up on food and water.
We have to be prepared for different scenarios, including bad ones. […] There will not be a full evacuation - maybe a partial one, but it cannot be called an evacuation. It is a temporary relocation of people of certain categories to the suburbs […].
Just as we calculate the worst-case scenarios, I ask every Kyiv citizen to be prepared for different scenarios. […] Please have a stock of drinking water and water for other uses at home, a supply of food that can be cooked or consumed without electricity, warm clothes, charged laptops and power banks, download offline maps to your phones.
And in the case of a bad scenario, it would be nice if everyone could either go to their house in the suburbs, where there is water and a furnace, or go to their acquaintances. But we are doing everything we can to make sure the worst case does not happen.
Russia regularly conducts large-scale strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. As a result, Ukrainian cities are often left without light, heat, or water.
The Ukrainian authorities have deployed “invincibility points” — places with heat and electricity that can be reached in the event of a prolonged power outage. On November 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Kyiv authorities on their poor deployment of said points.