Kyiv Mayor reports govt excludes city from general city aid budget, plan to be adjusted

Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that the government has refused to provide state assistance to Kyiv for the implementation of the city's resilience plan, which was developed by local authorities and submitted for consideration to the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).

"The comprehensive resilience plan for the city presented by the capital at the NSDC meeting naturally requires the participation and assistance of the state, both financial and legislative, as well as the involvement of government structures. Proposals for the plan were submitted to the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development on time. Specialists and energy sector experts were involved in drafting the document. Unfortunately, today we were made to understand that Kyiv will not be assisted at this time," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.

According to him, "the government did not include Kyiv in the general national budget for aiding cities in the implementation of resilience plans." Therefore, as Klitschko noted, options are currently being worked out regarding "what and how we will do in this situation, and how we will adjust the plans we have formed."

"P.S. Interestingly, the plans presented by other cities were signed by the heads of military administrations. The plan for Kyiv, which I remind you also has a head of military administration, they are forcing the mayor to sign. (And for this, the city council must still approve it). In other words, there is a 'special' attitude toward Kyiv. Once again, politics is at play..." Klitschko added.

As reported earlier this day, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he proposed to his advisor on infrastructure and interaction with communities, Oleksandr Kubrakov, to assist with the energy situation in Kyiv.

"The situation in the capital is difficult. I want Kubrakov, if there is to be any joint work with the capital, at least I wanted him to help a bit, to focus specifically on the energy sector of the capital," Zelenskyy said during a briefing on Tuesday.

The President noted that all powers regarding this matter lie with the Mayor of Kyiv. "Therefore, if they (the capital) want the state to help, we will provide maximum assistance," Zelenskyy emphasized.

Zelenskyy also reported that the capital was granted an additional week to prepare its resilience plan for the next winter. "We gave the capital an additional week. After all, it is necessary to work for the people, for the state. The issue here is: if the plan is not secured, the capital faces the same kind of winter," Zelenskyy said at the briefing.

Previously, Zelenskyy announced the approval of resilience plans for future heating seasons for every region and regional center at Tuesday's NSDC meeting. Meanwhile, Kyiv, which is a city with special status and is not part of Kyiv region, received additional time to prepare the relevant documents.