MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. The current heating problems in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev stem primarily from the city’s poor preparedness for the winter season, Verkhovna Rada (parliament) member Anna Skorokhod said.
"I will tell you frankly that <...> we are dealing with a huge number of accidents because, unlike other cities, we weren’t ready for the winter season here in Kiev. Pipes keep bursting; just look at the number of residential buildings left without heating; everyone’s freezing. <...> You move from one freezing place to another and realize that we aren’t prepared. Why? Pipes aren’t bursting because of airstrikes, and the cold weather is hampering efforts to fix them," she said in a YouTube interview with Ukrainian journalist Artyom Mayak.
The lawmaker noted that the previous winters had been quite warm in Ukraine, so no one had made preparations for the winter season, but now "the situation is tough." "You know, it’s just that winters were quite warm here in the past years and no one noticed anything; in fact, no one prepared for the winter season. And now, we have found ourselves in a situation where no one knows what to do or where to go," Skorokhod concluded.
Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko announced on Tuesday morning that over 5,600 buildings had been left without heating on the left bank of the Dnieper River. He said later that 4,000 buildings remained without heating.