Klitschko claims 600,000 people left Kyiv in January
The aftermath of the attack on Kyiv (Photo: SES / Facebook)

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  • Kyiv's mayor reports 600,000 residents left due to infrastructure damage.
  • The exodus highlights severe living conditions and potential humanitarian crisis.

Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said that about a hundred thousand people have allegedly left the capital after massive Russian strikes on critical infrastructure. He said this in an interview with the British newspaper The Times.

This month – January 2026 – 600,000 people have already left the capital, home to more than 3 million people, the mayor said, calling the situation with basic services such as heating, water, and electricity "critical."

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Klitschko advised again residents of the capital to leave if possible, as temperatures have dropped to -18°C during the cold snap, which is expected to last at least another two weeks.

Due to the inability to maintain the required temperature, the city authorities were forced to drain the centralized heating and water supply system to prevent the water from freezing and bursting pipes.

In some houses, it is so cold that residents cannot use the toilet because the water is frozen in the toilet and condensation has formed on the windowsill, Klitschko said.

He added that the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is leading Kyiv to a "humanitarian catastrophe".

REFERENCE
According to the State Statistics Service, about 2.95 million people lived in Kyiv in 2022. In the first months of the great war, the capital's population dropped to a minimum – in March 2022, there were less than 1 million people in the city. In February 2025, Klitschko said that about 4 million people lived in Kyiv, a number that increased due to the return of Kyivites and the arrival of more than 400,000 internally displaced persons.
  • In January, Russia repeatedly attacked Ukraine. In particular, on the night of January 9, the occupiers carried out combined attack on Kyiv, killing four people and injuring 22.
  • Then without heat supply almost 6000 apartment buildings remained, and in part of Kyiv emergency shutdowns.
  • Russia again attacked Ukraine on the night of January 20. 5,635 high-rise buildings were left without heat. Almost 80% of them are buildings where heat supply was restored on January 9.