Kiev is preparing to evacuate about three million residents in the event of a complete power outage, writes The New York Times, citing the director of the security service of the Kiev city administration, Roman Tkachuk.
“We understand that if Russia continues such attacks, we may lose our entire power supply system,” Tkachuk said.
Officials were told they would likely receive at least 12 hours' notice that the network was on the brink of failure. If it comes to that, Tkachuk said, "we will start informing people and asking them to leave."
At the same time, he noted that at the moment the situation is manageable, and there are no signs that a large number of civilians are leaving Kyiv. “Therefore, at present, the government and the city administration are taking all possible measures to protect our power supply system,” he added.
Earlier, the mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko did not rule out a blackout in the capital. “We are doing everything to prevent this from happening. But let's be honest, our enemies are doing everything to ensure that the city is without heat, electricity and water supply, and that we all die. We do not rule it out, we are calculating different scenarios in order to endure and prepare,” he said.
Electricity problems arose due to large-scale bombing of critical energy infrastructure across the country by the Russian military.