Klitschko Warns Kyiv District Heads of Personal Responsibility for Lack of Shelters

At a meeting of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) board, Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated that amid a significant increase in shelling of Kyiv, an urgent task for the district state administrations (DSAs) as budget managers is to expand the shelter network. According to the mayor, district leaders appointed by the president bear personal responsibility before residents for the presence and condition of shelters in their districts.

Priority: Equipping Shelters

"Today at the KCSA board meeting, I instructed the heads of the capital's districts to prioritize the use of funds for equipping shelters, and not to sabotage this issue," Klitschko stated. He emphasized that for district heads, who manage the funds allocated by the city, the urgent task right now is to increase the number of shelters and properly equip them. The mayor added that district leaders are obliged to promptly respond to residents' appeals and eliminate identified shortcomings.

Personal Responsibility and Threat to "Publish Surnames"

"District heads must promptly respond to all appeals and eliminate shortcomings. Because although they are appointed by the President, they bear personal responsibility to the residents," Klitschko stressed. He also warned that he would regard ignoring the issue of installing mobile shelters as sabotage and promised to publicly name the surnames of district leaders who fail to work on shelter installation.

Figures: Nearly 4,400 Shelters and About UAH 7 Billion

According to the mayor, there are currently nearly 4,400 shelters of various types and forms of ownership operating in Kyiv. Over the period of 2022–2026, the city allocated about UAH 7 billion for the construction, repair, and equipping of shelters. At the same time, as Klitschko noted, district administrations have not utilized all allocated funds.

Mobile Shelters: Funds Returned to the Budget

The issue of installing mobile shelters was discussed separately at the board meeting. Klitschko reported that last year the districts, having received funds for this purpose, failed to install shelters, and the money was returned to the city budget. This year, they did not apply for mobile shelter funding at all. As a result, the city had to seek solutions without district participation: the first batch of 14 mobile shelters will soon be installed by Kyivpastrans at public transport stops. In addition, following the mayor's appeal to business, the first shelter funded by patrons has already been installed on Beresteiskyi Avenue near the "Ivan Bagryany Park" trolleybus stops.

Context: Increased Intensity of Strikes on Energy Infrastructure

Earlier, Oleksandr Kharchenko, Director of the Energy Research Center, stated that the intensity of strikes on Kyiv's energy facilities had increased fourfold over the past month and a half. Last autumn, the government legally defined standards for mobile shelters; at that time, Klitschko reported that Kyiv was allocating funds to install 500 such shelters, but DSAs as fund managers failed to utilize them.