Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko have traded accusations over the failure to prepare the capital for renewed Russian attacks, which have plunged the city into prolonged power and water outages.
The latest dispute comes as Kyiv, a city of more than three million people, faces another winter of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, with emergency electricity cuts lasting for extended periods.
Ukraine is also struggling with a shortage of air-defence weapons to intercept incoming missiles and drones.
The impact of the attacks has been severe, with generators powering dark streets as temperatures approach freezing.
Residents are still waiting for the restoration of centralised heating, while city-wide water outages have become more frequent and last for hours.
Bridges across the Dnipro River have also come under attack for the first time since Russia launched its nearly five-year war against Ukraine, disrupting traffic. Power outages have repeatedly forced the suspension of metro services.
Zelenskiy, in his latest criticism of Kyiv’s administration, described the situation as “extremely serious”, saying the capital was facing the worst energy crisis in the country. He suggested that the city’s leadership was partly responsible for the challenges.
“In fact, these are the consequences of the failure to implement decisions at the city level on preparations for the heating season, as well as of this Russian operation against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” he wrote on X.
Klitschko, in two separate statements on Friday, accused the central government of “cynically” delaying approval of a resilience plan for Kyiv. He also described Zelenskiy’s criticism as “constant manipulations”.
“Because in its attempts to get rid of Klitschko in any way possible, in creating constant obstacles and not helping the capital, the central government is effectively destroying Kyiv,” he said.
The exchange is the latest development in a long-running feud between Zelenskiy, a former television comedian elected president in 2019, and Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion who has served as Kyiv mayor since 2014.
Both men have remained in office beyond their terms because elections are prohibited during wartime in Ukraine.
Earlier in the conflict, which began with Russia’s 2022 invasion, Zelenskiy criticised Kyiv officials over the condition of bomb shelters after three people died while trying to access a locked shelter.
Klitschko has accused the president of seeking political advantage by targeting him, with the two leaders rarely mentioning each other by name.
In an interview with Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne released on Thursday, Klitschko said his requests for a meeting with Zelenskiy to discuss Kyiv’s problems had gone unanswered.
His comments came days after Zelenskiy disclosed that he had approached several senior former officials to head Kyiv’s military administration, a parallel wartime authority accountable to the president, but none had accepted the position.
Speaking to reporters, Zelenskiy said cooperation between Klitschko and presidential appointees had been difficult.
“Because as soon as we start talking to some managers about how to strengthen Kyiv, the mayor gets the impression that someone wants to replace him,” Suspilne quoted Zelenskiy as saying.
