Kyiv mayor urges residents to stock up on food, water and medicines as situation may worsen
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has urged residents who can do so to leave the city and those who stay to stock up on food, water and medicines, saying the situation is difficult and could get worse.
Source: Klitschko on Facebook
Quote: "I am addressing residents and speaking honestly: the situation is extremely difficult and this may not yet be the most difficult moment.
Stock up on food, water and the medicines you need. If you still have the option to leave the city, where there are alternative sources of power and heat, do not dismiss it."
Details: Klitschko said Kyiv is preparing to respond to different scenarios given the extremely difficult situation in the energy sector and the expectation that the Russians will continue attacking the city and the country's critical infrastructure.
He also called on employers to introduce flexible working hours and, where possible, switch staff to remote work.
Klitschko said the first line of response in each district of the capital is the district state administration.
He added that Kyiv has identified support invincibility centres in every district where, if necessary, large numbers of people will be able to stay overnight. [Invincibility centres are heated premises stocked with food and power banks to assist residents facing hardships due to power cuts – ed.]
These centres will be equipped with sleeping areas and heating devices (mobile boiler units), as well as food and hygiene supplies.
Klitschko stressed that all city services and Kyiv City State Administration departments are working 24/7 and that municipal workers, hospitals and social institutions continue to operate around the clock.
Background:
- After the Russian strike on the night of 19-20 January, the mayor reported that 5,635 apartment blocks in Kyiv had been left without heating. The city's left (eastern) bank was also without water for a time.
- On 9 January, Klitschko urged residents, where possible, to temporarily leave the city for areas with alternative power and heating sources, as half of Kyiv's buildings had been left without heating after a Russian attack.
- As of the morning of 23 January, 1,940 buildings in the capital are still without heating.
- He later said that 600,000 people left the capital in January.
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