Published: Just now
If Kyiv loses power completely, the city will ask its around three million residents to evacuate, Kiev’s security chief told The New York Times.
During Sunday, the electricity is cut in a total of seven regions in Ukraine – including Kyiv and Kharkiv to relieve the electricity grid, which is severely damaged after Russia’s repeated bombings against electricity supply infrastructure.
– We realize that if Russia continues with these attacks, we could lose our entire electricity system, says Roman Tkatjuk, head of security in Kyiv, to The New York Times.
If it goes that far, the authorities in the capital expect that they will have at least twelve hours’ warning that the system is about to go down completely.
In that case, “we will start informing the people and ask them to leave,” Tkatjuk told the newspaper.
At the moment, the situation is sustainable and there are no indications of a large number of people fleeing Kyiv, he adds. But that can change quickly if the functions of the city that depend on electricity stop working.
– If there is no electricity, there is no water or sewage. That is why the government and the city administration are taking all possible measures to protect our electricity supply system, says Tkatjuk.