Kyiv in survival mode as strikes rise, mayor says

Kyiv has been pushed into “survival mode” before winter by a surge in Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko told AFP on Thursday.

Recent attacks have hit bridges, the city centre and key infrastructure. Russia has also resumed strikes on the energy grid, causing power cuts and raising fears of a repeat of last winter, when heating and electricity were knocked out for days as temperatures reached minus 20C.

“Every day brings new reports of destroyed buildings, of people injured or tragically killed, as the shelling of our city intensifies,” Klitschko said. “Today the issue is survival.”

Three people were killed in Russian strikes in Kyiv on Thursday. Hours after Klitschko spoke, service on the Kyiv metro was temporarily suspended because of power outages.

Russian attacks have killed at least 534 people in Kyiv since 2022, according to Kyiv City State Administration health data obtained by AFP. The data says 189 people have died so far this year, more than in all of 2025.

Klitschko said residents with friends or relatives outside Kyiv should consider temporarily relocating, but said he would never call for a full evacuation. He said an empty capital was Russian President Vladimir Putin's goal.

Russia has repeatedly hit bridges across the Dnipro river, disrupting traffic between the left and right banks of the city. Klitschko said that connection was “one of the key factors” in Kyiv's ability to function. The city is developing alternative pontoon crossings to ease gridlock in a capital with a daytime population, including commuters, of about 3.5 million.

Recent strikes have caused rolling power outages and left parts of Kyiv without water for several hours this week. Klitschko warned that disruption to the city's water infrastructure could cause a “quite large-scale” crisis.

The mayor said Kyiv was building backup heating systems and stockpiling fuel, food and drinking water before winter. “No matter how well we prepare, if air defence does not work, we could end up in a bad scenario,” he said.

Klitschko also blamed some shortcomings on President Volodymyr Zelensky's government, with which he has often clashed. The government has repeatedly accused Kyiv of lagging on winter planning. Klitschko called the accusations unfounded and said city authorities faced limited time, funding and workers.