Klitschko urged Kiev residents to leave the city amid the energy crisis

On January 16, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko called on residents of the capital of Ukraine to leave the city if possible amid the acute energy crisis.

"This is the first time in the history of our city when, in such severe frosts, most of the city was left without heating and with a huge shortage of electricity," he said in an interview with Reuters.

Klitschko said that Kiev currently needs about 1,700 megawatts of electricity to meet the needs of 3.6 million people, but the city has only about half of this volume at its disposal. Some residents face power outages for 18-20 hours a day. Cold weather with temperatures down to -17 degrees Celsius aggravates the situation.

According to him, the authorities have opened about 1.3 thousand heating points and are working on installing local heating stations. The priority in distributing energy from generators is water supply, hospitals and kindergartens, which require about 300 tons of fuel daily. Schools have extended winter holidays, and many companies have switched to remote work.

Freezing and waiting: in the cities of Ukraine they refuse to turn on the heating

Cities across the country may be without heat for more than a month.

On January 16, the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Denis Shmygal announced that the country had started operating an emergency situation (emergency) in the energy sector. According to him, for the duration of the regime, citizens are allowed to travel to heating points during the curfew.

On January 14, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced that a state of emergency in the energy sector would be introduced in the country. At the same time, he stressed that "Shmygal would become the head of work to support people and communities in such conditions, as well as to address practical issues."

On the same day, Shmygal reported that there were no power plants left in Ukraine that were not affected by the strikes. According to him, the biggest problems in the energy sector are observed in Kiev and the Odessa region.

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