President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko cannot cope on his own with the challenges the war poses for the city. But working with him is also difficult, the head of state said at a meeting with journalists on 27 October.
According to Zelenskyy, Klitschko believes they want to replace him. He interprets meetings by the central authorities about strengthening the city in exactly that way.
“There is no politics from us in this matter. I would very much like the mayor to do everything himself. But he cannot do it alone. And working together is difficult. Because as soon as we talk with some managers about how to strengthen Kyiv, the mayor gets the impression that someone wants to replace him. When you approach people asking them to help, they say: ‘No, thank you. We’ve seen it all, we’ve heard it all. Let the person do it himself. He has responsibility — let him answer for it.’ But as President I cannot simply watch the mayor answer for it on his own. Why? Because it’s impossible. Critical infrastructure facilities must be protected. They have not protected them fully,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that he had discussed with several people the possibility of them heading the Kyiv City Military Administration, but no one wants to.
“If I were in the mayor’s place, I would ask them myself — smart people, managers with experience. I asked the Prime Minister to assemble a special cabinet for Kyiv — business managers, strong people. I am ready to speak personally with whoever they name to me and ask him. Create such a cabinet and work out solutions. I will do what I can. I wanted to bring Maliuk into this group in the context of security issues. I also spoke with Kubrakov and Groysman. Sukhomlyn refused — as soon as he heard about Kyiv. I spoke with people from business, from other areas of public administration. No one wants to be involved, because afterwards no one will say thank you, and others will constantly talk about politics,” the president said.
He assured that there is nothing personal in his attitude towards Klitschko.
“The capital must be prepared for a difficult winter. And even if the assessments of winter were not what turned out to be the case, because the massive attacks began earlier, that does not mean we should only look for someone to blame. Do everything you can. And preferably gather smart people. He should be calling all these people himself and meeting them, not me. During such a war, it doesn’t matter whose bridge it is on paper. The main thing is that it stands and functions as one of the capital’s most important logistical arteries,” Zelenskyy said.
Context
After the first strikes on Kyiv’s energy sector this autumn, the city experienced major power cuts, including a temporary shutdown of the metro. Against this backdrop, Zelenskyy several times accused the city authorities of failing to implement the Resilience Plan and of insufficient preparation for winter. Klitschko, for his part, said the city lacked funding and stressed that Kyiv’s energy system had been badly damaged by the attacks: the capital has lost its own generation and relies entirely on the national energy system.