Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko has urged residents to temporarily leave the Ukrainian capital if they have the option, after a large-scale Russian strike severely damaged the city’s critical infrastructure and left nearly half of all apartment buildings without heating.

According to Klitschko, around 6,000 residential buildings in Kyiv are currently without heat following the overnight combined attack on January 8–9, which he described as the most damaging to the city’s infrastructure since the start of the full-scale war. The mayor said the city is also experiencing disruptions to water supply, while emergency power outages have been introduced in several areas.

Municipal services are working under emergency conditions, Klitschko said, as weather forecasts indicate very low temperatures in the coming days. Night-time temperatures have dropped below minus 10 degrees Celsius. Hospitals, maternity wards and other key social facilities have been connected to mobile boiler units, and joint efforts by city workers and energy specialists are ongoing to restore electricity and heating to residential areas.

The Russian attack involved a massive overnight assault on Ukraine, with 242 drones and 36 missiles launched, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Kyiv and surrounding areas were among the main targets. Energy infrastructure facilities and residential buildings in the capital were hit, resulting in at least four fatalities and 19 people injured.

Explosions were reported in Kyiv on the evening of January 8, when Russian drones targeted the city. In the Desnianskyi district, an unmanned aerial vehicle struck the roof of a residential building. By the morning of January 9, more than 500,000 electricity consumers in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast were left without power. Damage to overhead power lines also caused delays in some passenger train services in the region.

Klitschko stressed that city authorities are doing everything possible to stabilize the situation but acknowledged that full restoration will take time. He appealed directly to residents who have access to alternative sources of heat and electricity outside the city to consider leaving Kyiv temporarily until conditions improve.

Kyiv, a city of roughly four million people, has repeatedly come under Russian attacks targeting its energy system since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022. In recent months, Ukrainian officials have warned that Moscow is attempting to disable the energy grid region by region. In the days preceding the Kyiv strike, Russian attacks left parts of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts without power, while critical infrastructure in Lviv Oblast was also targeted during the same overnight assault on January 9.