Central government decides not to help Kyiv prepare for winter, city doing everything on its own - Klitschko

The central government has refused to fund the restoration of Kyiv’s CHPP-5, despite having previously provided funding guarantees. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has stated this.

"The central government, having publicly stated that it would help, has no intention of doing so. The Ministry of Communities and Territories Development promised state funding and even proposed contractors for the restoration work at CHPP-5. Now that time has passed, the state is essentially washing its hands of the matter. The ministry has stated that this is solely Kyiv’s responsibility,” Vitali Klitschko said.

The mayor emphasized that restoring CHPP-5, which was destroyed by russian shelling, requires significant funds.

"In this situation we’ve been put in, the capital urgently needs to find another UAH 3 billion. And in total, about UAH 9 billion is needed to purchase equipment and create a backup heat supply system for CHPP-5," he said.

Klitschko attributes the central government’s refusal to help Kyiv prepare for the coming winter to politics. Hundreds of thousands of Kyiv residents could become hostages to this situation.

"So, it’s politics again. They’re trying to corner Kyiv. The situation is dire. After all, we’re talking about how Kyiv residents will survive the winter and how the city will function," he wrote.

At the same time, the mayor assured that Kyiv continues to prepare for the coming winter using its own funds and those of its partners. In particular, it is implementing projects to restore facilities damaged by the enemy and to build a backup heat supply system.

Earlier, Minister of Communities and Territories Development Oleksii Kuleba stated that the state would finance 50% of the protection of the capital’s energy facilities, for which nearly UAH 1 billion has been allocated.

It was also reported that in March, the Kyiv City Council adopted a resilience plan, and the city immediately began implementing it using its own funds. At the same time, the capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, emphasized that state assistance is urgently needed by the capital, given the colossal scale of destruction and damage caused by russian shelling.