The key facts
- Klitschko accused the central government of obstructing the city administration's work and of attempts to remove him
- He recalled that the heating season in Kyiv began on October 16 and pointed to the country's unified energy system
- Earlier, Zelensky called the situation with Kyiv's electricity supply the hardest in the country
The conflict between the mayor and the president has escalated
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko accused Ukraine's central authorities of creating obstacles to the work of the capital's administration and of attempting to remove him from office. In his view, the actions of the country's leadership are effectively destroying Kyiv. He was responding to criticism from Volodymyr Zelensky caused by problems with heating and electricity supply in the capital, reports Life.ru.
The mayor's arguments
Klitschko recalled that the heating season in Kyiv began as early as October 16 and asked how the city administration could have prevented strikes on the energy infrastructure, the consequences of which affected the entire country. He stressed that Ukraine's energy system is unified, so damage to facilities in some regions inevitably affects others. The mayor also criticized the holding of meetings on preparing Kyiv for winter without the participation of city government representatives.
Statement and background of the conflict
«The central government's mantra that Kyiv is the worst, the constant manipulation, the lies — this is bad. Because, seeking to get rid of Klitschko by any means, creating constant obstacles and not helping the capital, the central government is effectively destroying Kyiv,» the mayor said. The standoff over the capital's preparations for the heating season has been going on for more than a month: earlier Klitschko said that accusations of insufficient preparation of the city were being used to try to force his resignation, and called the claims part of a campaign against local self-government. Later, Zelensky called the situation with Kyiv's electricity supply the hardest in the country and linked the prolonged blackouts of electricity and water to the city authorities' failure to implement decisions on winter preparations.
What is known and what remains off-screen
The publication reflects the positions of the two sides of the conflict: Klitschko blames the outages on strikes against the energy sector and the actions of the central government, while Zelensky blames the city authorities' failure to implement winter preparation decisions. No independent verification of these claims, specific measures to address the consequences of the accidents, or possible legal steps against the mayor are reported in the available materials.
