Under-attack Kyiv ‘may have to evacuate,’ residents warned
Kyiv considers mass evacuation with hundreds of thousands without power and fears further Russian strikes will cripple the city.
Ukraine officials have warned residents in Kyiv that they may have to evacuate if the capital loses electricity and power in further Russian missile attacks.
The planning for such a mass evacuation – the city held three million people before the Russian invasion – comes just hours after the mayor of Kyiv Vitaly Klitschko told Ukrainian media that 450,000 residents were still without electricity after last Monday’s wave of missiles and drone strikes which struck at energy infrastructure.
Mr Klitschko warned: “If you have relatives or friends in the suburbs of Kyiv who have a separate water supply, a stove and heating, plan to stay there temporarily.
“Please make arrangements so that in the event of a bad scenario, you can stay with your friends or acquaintances for a while.”
The mayor’s comments were initially interpreted by some as being an evacuation order, resulting in further clarifications throughout Sunday.
Mr Klitschko later reported that Kyiv residents are “largely staying put” and that having a plan and being ready for emergencies didn’t mean an evacuation was underway. “Today there are no reasons for panic, Kyiv lives on and works,’’ he said.
But Ukraine officials are concerned that further stresses on the city’s already fragile energy supplies could cripple Kyiv’s sewage system and result in outbreaks of disease.
Ukrainian politician Kira Rudlik said the evacuation warnings were helping people be prepared for various situations. She tweeted: “In case of complete #blackout in #Kyiv people will be evacuated. We run through different scenarios in order to be prepared”.
One Kyiv resident Oleksandra Povoroznyk tweeted that it had been a rainy and cold day across the city. “Our apartment currently doesn’t have hot water or electricity, and my parents’ home hasn’t had electricity and hot or cold water for almost two days now,” she said.
“The in-laws have about eight hours of power outages per day, but they do have a generator. We’re still cheerful and defiant”. She said they celebrated a friend’s birthday by playing games by candlelight.
In the Russian-held southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and ten surrounding villages, the power and water supply has been cut after an air strike on high voltage power lines and the nearby Kakhovka dam, which supplies Crimea with water.
”In Kherson and a number of other areas in the region, there is temporarily no electricity or water supply,” the city’s Moscow-installed administration said on Telegram.
It said the attack was instigated by Ukraine, hitting three concrete poles of high-voltage power lines on the Berislav-Kakhovka highway.
Russian outlets reported that Ukraine launched six HIMARS rockets, of which five were shot down by air defence, but one hit the dam.
Ukraine has claimed Moscow may launch a false flag operation on the dam to cause devastating flooding.
There are reports that a Russian military base in Kakhovka, housing 200 Russians also came under attack, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.