Ukraine | Klitschko's chair wobbles

Vitali Klitschko has been mayor of the Ukrainian capital since 2014. Critics accuse him of setting the wrong priorities. Photo: AFP/GENYA SAVILOV Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko is fighting for his political survival. Criticism and calls for resignation are becoming louder and louder. In view of increasing Russian air strikes on the Ukrainian capital and other cities, there are fears of a harsh winter with heating and power supply failures.

And critics say Vitali Kllitschko, who is also the head of the Kiev city administration, is partly to blame for the feared misery. The city's residents remember with horror the days and nights of last winter, when many had to endure outside temperatures of up to 20 degrees below zero in unheated apartments.

Volodymyr Zelenskyj said that the authorities in the capital were ill-prepared for the coming winter. According to the president, there are problems with the provision of shelters, the preparation of schools and local public transport. Subtext of Zelensky's statement: Mayor Klitschko is to blame for all of this.

Zelensky's criticism was followed by a demand from parliament that Klitschko should give an account to MPs about the status of preparations for the winter. Last Wednesday, Klitschko appeared in parliament. And his speech was followed by a long list of the city's preparation measures for the winter.

»Where is the air defense to protect the capital? Where is the protection of Ukrenergo's facilities? Where are the billions allocated for this?”

According to Klitschko, Kiev's city administration is trying to maintain life in the capital despite the Russian attacks. According to the mayor, the fact is that Russian attacks on the Kiev thermal power plants have multiplied. They have been shot at 50 times this year alone. For comparison: twelve rockets and drones were fired at the thermal power plants in 2022, seven in 2023 and none in 2024. Last year there were 19.

But Klitschko's speech was more than a report. He now attacked the central government, accusing it of not adequately protecting the capital from Russian attacks and blocking funds for important energy projects. »Where is the air defense to protect the capital? Where is the protection of the facilities of Ukrenergo (the operator of the interregional power grids, editor)? “Where are the billions that have been allocated for this?” he asked in Parliament.

While Mayor Klitschko cannot be blamed for the Russian airstrikes, it is clear that Kiev's city administration has its own priorities. While sports fields and roads are being built or renovated, there is a lot going on when it comes to the provision of shelters.

“I live on General Vorobyov Street,” a resident reports to “nd.” »The shelter there is in a basement of a residential building. I often lie there with my sleeping bag right next to the heating pipes. But actually a room with large, thick heating pipes shouldn't be a shelter. “Imagine what would happen if they were damaged in a Russian air raid and the whole mess poured over the sleeping people.”

He is annoyed that other shelters are often closed. He also doesn't like being in an underground car park during an air raid. “What do you think would happen if one of these cars caught fire?”

It is obvious that it is not just about safe spaces between Klitschko and Zelenskyj. Rather, the lack of protection and preparation for winter is only the background to a dispute between the president and mayor that has lasted several years.

Zelenskyj is likely to want to sideline his political opponent. But unseating a mayor who has been elected three times will not be easy. The city of Uman shows how it could work. Mayor Iryna Pletnyova was dismissed there in September at the initiative of residents. A legally controversial decision that a court temporarily stopped.

A citizens' initiative had collected 6,710 signatures calling for Pletnyova's dismissal. That was more than the 6,074 people who voted for her in 2020. Applied to Kiev, this would mean that an initiative to remove Klitschko, who received 365,161 votes in the last election, would have to collect at least 365,162 signatures in order to initiate removal proceedings.

Another possibility would be, as happened in Odessa, to take away a large part of the mayor's powers - and give them to the regional military administration. In this variant, Klitschko would remain, at least formally, the head of the city. And as long as he can call himself mayor of Kiev, he remains a serious competitor for President Zelensky.

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