Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko on Friday urged residents to temporarily leave the city of 3 million residents, noting that 6,000 apartment buildings no longer have heat after the Russian attack.
“City services are running in emergency mode,” Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. Russia launched severe air strikes on the Ukrainian capital, which affected about half of the city’s apartment buildings.
Klitschko said the nighttime attacks in Kiev were the worst of the war to hit the city’s infrastructure, with cold winter weather exacerbating the situation. He posted that those who could find suitable accommodation elsewhere should leave the city for now.
The advisory is not a formal evacuation call, but instead advises residents to seek accommodation with relatives and friends in villas equipped with heaters or in less affected areas.
Klitschko said some apartment buildings should start heating up again from Friday night, adding that the situation in Kiev was difficult but under control.
The Energy Ministry said on Friday morning that about 500,000 consumers in Kyiv and surrounding areas were without power.
The Ukrainian Air Force said the city was attacked by more than 200 drones and dozens of missiles and cruise missiles at night. The attack killed at least four people and President Volodymyr Zelensky said 20 apartment buildings were damaged.
Since February 2022, Ukraine has been fighting a full-scale Russian invasion.
