“Political games.” Klitschko reiterates Zelensky’s criticism, he has a week to correct his mistakes

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi criticized the Kyiv Municipality last week. According to him, the mayor of the metropolis, Vitalij Klitschko, did not do enough to ensure the restoration of energy resources after Russia’s attacks on critical infrastructure.

Attacks by the Russian military on the country’s critical infrastructure on Wednesday caused power outages across the country. About 70 percent of Kyiv residents were left without electricity the next morning. Water supplies were also restricted in some places, and trams to the streets of the capital did not run.

Zelensky later described the actions of the Kyiv administration as inadequate. In a video released Friday night, he said a number of complaints had come from Kyiv and its environs. According to Zelensky, the reactions of other cities were on point.

“Many (people) have been without power for 20 or 30 hours. We expect quality work from the municipality,” he said. “To put it mildly, more work is needed.”

According to Zelensky, even the so-called unbreakable stations, the emergency places where people could come to warm up or charge their mobile phones, were not adequately prepared. There should be 4,000 such places across the country. But some representatives lied about their facilities, according to the president.

The mayor countered the president’s criticism, saying it was pointless at a time when the country was facing Russian aggression. “I don’t want to get into political discussions, especially in the current situation. It’s pointless. I have a lot of work in the city,” objected Klitschko in a video posted on Telegram.

He told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that work is being done at “record speed” to restore electricity supplies. He also commented on, according to him, about 400 in the metropolis and about 100 emergency locations that the city has prepared in case of a crisis.

Klitschko, who had various animosities with Zelenskiy prior to the invasion, said the president’s allies were “manipulating” the city’s efforts. Both politicians come from rival political parties.

“It’s not pleasant to say the least. Neither for the Ukrainians nor for our foreign partners. Today more than ever before, everyone should come together and cooperate. “Some political games are being played here,” Klitschko said, according to Reuters.

One of the president’s main allies and head of his party’s parliamentary club, People’s Servant Davyd Arachamija, sided with Zelensky. According to him, the mayor’s statement is “significantly different” from what residents say. He told Klitschko he had a week to rectify the situation before inspections of these emergency facilities were carried out, Ukrainian newspaper Pravda reported.

“I have a suggestion. The city authorities have a week to correct the errors and then we will conduct inspections with the mayor,” Arachamija said in a telegram. He said that Kiev will continue to be one of the main targets of Russian attacks and therefore must be prepared.

The capital is now explaining speculation about the possible evacuation of its residents due to damaged infrastructure. In an interview with the RBK-Ukraine website, Klitschko assured that the Kievans would not be resettled entirely. In the worst case, he said, the evacuation would only concern parts of Kiev and people would move to the suburbs, not other areas.

“I’m not ignoring the worst possible scenario. However, there won’t be a full evacuation – maybe a partial evacuation, but that wouldn’t be called an evacuation. It’s a temporary relocation of people to suburbs where services will be provided from certain places,” he said.

However, Ukrainska Pravda noted that the mayor did not explain why he will move to the suburbs, where the situation with energy supply is now similar to the center of the capital. In the same interview, Klitschko pointed out that energy supplies in the capital could be interrupted until spring.