Before the war, Vitali Klitschko was considered to be Selenskyj's challenger in the next presidential election, and the two had had a deep dislike for years. With the beginning of the war, competition fades into the background. But it is not settled, as Zelenskyj shows in his daily video speech.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticized the work of the Kyiv city administration in repairing damage after the massive Russian attacks on the energy supply. "Tonight 600,000 connections in the city are switched off," Zelenskyj said in his evening video address. "Many Kiev citizens were without electricity for more than 20 or even 30 hours." He expects quality work from the mayor's office. The President did not name Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
He was particularly annoyed that there were fewer heat rooms than necessary in the capital, which has three million inhabitants. Klitschko had reported in the morning that 400 of these contact points had been set up. In the event of power outages lasting more than one day, citizens should be able to warm up there; there should be electricity, water, first aid and internet.
"There are many complaints, especially in Kyiv," said Zelenskyj. In fact, there are only functioning warming rooms in the civil defense buildings and at the train station. "There is still work to be done in other areas, to put it mildly," said the President. "Kyiv residents need more protection." Nationwide, six million points of consumption are still without electricity, said Zelenskyj. On Wednesday evening after the Russian attack, there were twelve million consumption points.
Zelenskyy called on people to be frugal even when there is light. "Just because there's electricity doesn't mean you can turn on multiple powerful electrical devices at the same time." Every evening there are peaks in consumption, which in turn lead to new power outages. Selenskyj and Klitschko put their political competition on hold during the war. But it continues, as the President's statements show.
Klitschko founded the pro-Western UDAR party in 2010 and supported the incumbent Petro Poroshenko in the Ukrainian presidential elections in 2019, who then lost to Zelenskyy. Before the war, he was said to have ambitions for the presidency in the next elections. A few months before the Russian attack, relations between Klitschko and Selenskyj had hit rock bottom over several scandals. Back then, Zelenskyy was already arguing with the Kiev city administration and accused himself of corruption.
