01/15/2026, 07:4801/15/2026, 07:48
No electricity, no heating, but severe frost – the Ukrainian leadership is intervening in the emergency situation in the capital Kiev that has been going on for days. At the same time, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj criticized the city administration’s current crisis management under Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko.Image: keystone
Zelensky announced after a crisis meeting that a state of emergency would be declared for Ukraine’s entire energy sector. A coordination team will be set up to pay particular attention to the needs of the city of three million people. The entire government should organize additional equipment and help.
Kiev’s utility networks were knocked out by a Russian airstrike last Friday, meaning hundreds of thousands of people lost heating, electricity and water. The capital is in a humanitarian crisis, wrote journalist Oleksyj Sorokin from the “Kyiv Independent”. He further wrote on the X platform: “There are places in Kiev that are currently uninhabitable.”
Other Ukrainian cities have also suffered a blackout due to Russian attacks on their energy supplies. According to Kiev, the attacks are aimed at making the cities uninhabitable in the frost.
Criticism of the Kiev city administration
The government discussed the situation in Kiev, Odessa, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Kharkiv, Zelensky said in his evening video address. “We see that a lot has been done – especially in Kharkiv, where the local authorities have prepared,” he said. “Unfortunately, Kyiv has done significantly less. Very little has been done in the capital.” Even now, the repair work there was not progressing intensively enough, he criticized.
The new Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal also praised Kharkiv and criticized the capital. Kyiv “did not prepare at all. “That’s why we have to take emergency measures now,” said Schmyhal in parliament.
Emergency tents have been set up in the city of Kiev, which are supplied with water, heating and electricity.Image: keystone
The government’s intervention in Kiev and thus in Klitschko’s jurisdiction also means that an old political conflict is breaking out again. Zelenskyj and Klitschko were competitors in the 2019 presidential election. Despite the peace that prevails domestically in Ukraine because of the war, there are always taunts between the two.
Relax nighttime curfews
More warming points need to be set up in Kyiv and other cities, Zelensky said. Consideration is being given to relaxing the nighttime curfew so that citizens can reach these contact points at any time. In these so-called “points of indomitability” people can warm up, charge their devices and get hot drinks. There are 1,200 such positions in Kyiv alone.
At his own crisis meeting with his administration, Klitschko admitted that the capital was in the most difficult situation since the start of the war. Initially there was no heating in 6,000 apartment blocks, half of the existing buildings, he said. 400 apartment blocks are still unheated, but it is hoped that they will soon be connected to the district heating network again. At 12 degrees frost during the day and 18 degrees frost at night, unheated houses cool down quickly.
For most citizens there is only electricity for three hours and then no electricity for ten or more hours, Klitschko reported. City services worked around the clock to repair everything. He rejected the president’s criticism, saying it was “uninterrupted hatred.”
Citizens of Kyiv walk through the city in the dark.Image: keystone
Council of Europe criticizes Russian attacks
The Council of Europe also criticized the Russian attacks on the cities. “I am alarmed by the widespread human suffering caused by the destruction of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” said Human Rights Commissioner Michael O’Flaherty. The humanitarian consequences of the ongoing power outages are serious.
Zelensky calls for US concentration on peace talks
Russia has been waging a devastating war on its neighboring country for almost four years. It is not foreseeable that Moscow will give in. So far, only Ukraine, the USA and European countries are discussing a possible end to the war.
Zelensky said his chief negotiator Rustem Umjerov had informed him of the latest status of the talks. Progress must be made on documents on security guarantees and the economy, said the President. Ukraine is maximally productive. “We also expect energetic work from the American side.” (sda/dpa)