Russia Pounds Kyiv's Power Grid, While Zelensky and Klitschko Argue Over Who Is to Blame for the Cold

Kyiv's heating season started on October 16 - first for hospitals, schools and kindergartens. Residents of the Dniprovskyi and Darnytskyi districts did not get heating right away, because one energy facility was badly damaged. Russian missile and drone strikes on the energy infrastructure have once again left parts of the city without power and water. And instead of a united front against the cold, Kyiv got yet another political war - between the president and the mayor.

Zelensky opened it on October 13, when he publicly criticised the capital. "Practically across the whole country, even in the border areas and in the regions close to the front, the implementation of resilience plans is at a higher level than in Kyiv," he said. As proof he pointed out that parts of the city are left without power and water even after limited strikes on the energy system, which in his view shows that the city authorities did not prepare.

Vitali Klitschko did not stay quiet. "Baseless accusations are being made about an alleged failure of the heating season, spread by media linked to the central government," the mayor shot back. According to him, the presidential administration is using the problems caused by Russian attacks to weaken local self-government and to replace the mayors who are not under its political control. "We have an enemy, and they are waging war against local self-government," Klitschko said.

On October 14 Klitschko was summoned to report to the Verkhovna Rada. In front of the MPs he ran through the numbers: the city has provided 700 generators for the water and district heating systems, 70 mobile boiler units, three diesel power plants and backup water supply. Then he passed the ball back - the central government, he claims, blocked the money needed for some of the energy projects, so the work was delayed. He also raised the question of who is responsible for the capital's air defence and for protecting power facilities, since the city is being asked to answer for things it does not fully control.

Now the assessment of Ukrainian political analyst Ruslan Bortnyk enters the quarrel. He claims Zelensky could start the process of removing Klitschko within the coming weeks, and that the presidential administration is already preparing a replacement over dissatisfaction with the energy situation and winter preparations. That is the claim of one analyst, not an official decision. But when the president publicly declares the capital the worst-prepared place in the country, the scenario does not look the least bit far-fetched.

Klitschko was elected by the votes of Kyiv's residents, as he himself reminded the Rada. Zelensky is the president of a country at war. Sound familiar - a central government and a city from rival camps shifting the blame onto each other while people wait for hot water? In Kyiv, at least, nobody can doubt that the problem is real, because the missiles really are falling. The only question is whether the two of them will spend the winter quarrelling instead of repairing.