Kharkiv doesn't consider evacuation of citizens as solution to problems, city committed to restoration – mayor
The Kharkiv authorities are currently not considering the option of reducing the city's population to solve its problems, in particular with housing, energy, heating and water supply, which have sharply worsened recently due to regular Russian shelling, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov has said.
"Tell me, how will the military protecting us react to this?" he said, rejecting this option for solving problems in a comment to the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency on the sidelines of the conference "Kharkiv Recovery. Main Goals and Plans" in Berlin on Tuesday.
Terekhov emphasized in his speech that Kharkiv is focused on restoration and is actively working with its international partners on this.
According to the official, not a single one of the projects with international financial organizations launched before the war was cancelled.
"We will build the metro, modern electric transport, electric buses, and we will purchase cogeneration units," the mayor said.
He also said that the first underground school has been built in Kharkiv to provide 900 children with education services in two shifts, and several more will be built before September 1 of this year.
Speaking about the current situation, Terekhov said that in May there were 76 powerful shelling attacks on the city, as well as 193 air raids, which in total lasted almost 20 days.
He said that more than 9,000 houses, mainly residential ones, half of educational institutions and kindergartens, 40 healthcare facilities were destroyed in Kharkiv, and since March 23, not a single thermal power plant or transformer substation has remained in the city, so today it is completely powered from other regions Ukraine.
The mayor emphasized that in order to survive the coming winter, Kharkiv is building a decentralized system of energy supply and heating, as well as water supply, and requires international support in these areas.
According to him, over 150,000 city residents are currently homeless, there is a demand for the restoration and construction of housing, and the city, with the involvement of leading architects in the world, is working on a master plan
