Zelensky slams Kyiv officials for struggling to handle city’s blackouts

Volodymyr Zelensky publicly criticized officials in Kyiv for their handling of power outages in a brief, yet rare, departure from the Ukrainian president’s cultivated image of national unity.

Zelensky suggested that Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko had not done enough to recover from the blackouts caused by Russian missile attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid in an online video posted late Friday.

In response to the attack, Ukraine set up thousands of “invincibility centers” where people can access water, heat and the internet, but Zelensky said Kyiv’s effort in particular was faltering.

“Points of invincibility are deployed throughout the country but I know that, unfortunately, not in all cities the local government has done a good job,” Zelensky said. “In particular, there are many complaints in Kyiv.”

“Many Kyiv residents were without electricity for more than 20 or even 30 hours,” Zelensky added. “I expect quality work from the mayor’s office.”

Zelensky’s comments came after Klitschko, a 51-year-old former boxer, said that more than 400 “heating points” were set up in Kyiv.

Klitschko, who sparred with Zelensky before the war, addressed the difficulties his administration has faced trying to keep the power on in the capital city last week.

“If I tried to explain to you all the challenges that I have, we (would) need weeks,” Klitschko said in an interview.

During his Friday video address, Zelensky said that nearly 12 million people were without power Wednesday evening but that number had been cut in half by the weekend, with 600,000 still without electricity in Kyiv.

On Saturday morning, the Kyiv municipal administration announced that water had been restored and the number of residents without electricity dropped to about 130,000, Al Jazeera reported.

With Post Wires