Kyiv is moving toward a humanitarian catastrophe, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in an interview with The Times. According to him, 600,000 people left the capital in January alone.
He noted that the two most recent missile strikes hit thermal power plants, sharply worsening the heating situation. “The Russians want to engineer a humanitarian catastrophe in our home city so that people freeze in winter,” Klitschko said.
As the newspaper reports, temperatures in some apartment buildings have fallen so low that residents can no longer use toilets—water in the bowls freezes, and icicles form on windowsills from condensation.
Experts warn that without the rapid restoration of sewage and water supply systems, the risk of disease outbreaks will rise and the functioning of the city will begin to break down. “Water is the key. If the Russians continue to obstruct water supplies to such a vast city, it will create a risk of total collapse,” explained Taras Zahorodnyi, head of the National Anti-Crisis Group.
Klitschko also accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of “recklessly” stoking an internal political conflict at a moment when the country needs unity. According to The Times, the mayor made the remarks inside Kyiv City Hall, where staff had been barred from using toilets due to the lack of water. He added that Zelenskyy had refused to meet him to discuss the crisis, despite the fact that electricity generation and air defense fall under the authority of the central government.