Zelensky asks prime minister to assemble team for Kyiv’s winter preparations
President Volodymyr Zelensky says Kyiv is behind on winter resilience plans and wants Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi to coordinate help for the city administration.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 27 that he had asked Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi to assemble a team to help Kyiv’s city administration complete its winter resilience plans, The Kyiv Independent reported. Zelensky said the capital was behind schedule as Russia resumed attacks on energy infrastructure, making coordination between national and city authorities more urgent.
Zelensky said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko could not manage the preparations alone. ‘It would be wonderful if Kyiv could protect itself or at least prepare for the dangers. But that didn't happen in any of these areas,’ he said, according to The Kyiv Independent. The assessment of the city’s readiness is Zelensky’s; the report did not include an independent assessment of its winter plans.
Who Zelensky wants on the Kyiv team
Zelensky named former Security Service head Vasyl Maliuk, former infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov and former prime minister Volodymyr Groysman as people he wanted to join the team, The Kyiv Independent reported. He said Serhii Sukhomlyn, head of Ukraine’s infrastructure restoration agency, declined after learning the effort concerned Kyiv. It was not immediately clear whether the team had been assembled or what authority and resources it would have.
The president said Klitschko had been reluctant to accept help from other institutions because he believed someone might be trying to replace him. That is Zelensky’s account of the mayor’s position; Klitschko’s response was not included in the report. Zelensky and Klitschko have long clashed over responsibility and power in the capital, with the mayor accusing the president of centralizing authority and withholding funds, according to The Kyiv Independent.
Why Kyiv’s winter preparations face scrutiny
Earlier in October, Zelensky compared Kyiv’s preparations unfavorably with those in Kharkiv, a city he said faced serious challenges of its own, including glide bomb attacks. His call for a team follows a demonstration outside Kyiv City Council on Oct. 17, where hundreds of people demanded improvements to shelters and greater transparency about winter preparations, as well as Klitschko’s resignation and protection of green spaces, The Kyiv Independent reported.
The Daily Mirror separately reported concerns that Russian forces could target Ukrainian city infrastructure, including heating systems, as temperatures fall. Zelensky said institutions needed to work together to address Kyiv’s preparations; he did not give a timetable for the proposed team’s work in the remarks reported by The Kyiv Independent.
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Sources and context
- Zelensky tasks PM with assembling Kyiv winter preparations team, says Klitschko 'can't do it alone'The Kyiv Independent
- Zelensky says Ukraine abandoned 'like Home Alone' as Trump panders to PutinDaily Mirror
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.