Kyiv faces widespread power, heat outages after Russian strikes

(MENAFN) Thousands of residents in Kyiv are experiencing power and heating disruptions following Russian airstrikes on the city’s energy infrastructure, officials said. Nearly 60% of the capital is without electricity, and thousands of high-rise buildings remain without heat.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported on social media that "slightly less than 3,000 high-rise buildings" are still without heat as of Thursday morning. He added that crews managed to reconnect heating to 227 buildings overnight, marking the second restoration effort after attacks on January 9 and 20. Utility teams are reportedly working around the clock to restore services.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized local authorities’ assessments that resources are “sufficient” but require time. “I do not agree with this assessment – additional measures and additional resources are needed,” he wrote on social media following a government energy coordination meeting.

The energy sector has been under a state of emergency since last week, prompted by extreme weather conditions and repeated Russian strikes. Earlier this week, Klitschko noted that 16 buildings still lacked heating from the January 9 outage, while overnight strikes on Tuesday left over 5,600 high-rise buildings without heating.

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