Utility workers are quitting, and life in Kyiv is unbearable: Ukrainians should not expect stable power-outage schedules to be restored

Ukrainians should not expect a return to stable electricity outage schedules.

This was stated by Andrii Zakrevskyi, deputy director of the Association of Energy and Natural Resources of Ukraine, in an interview with the media.

“Right now we need to prepare for the return of frost, and with it for new Russian strikes. You need to stock up on water and order gas,” the expert explained.

Against the backdrop of the extremely difficult situation with cities’ critical infrastructure, many municipal utility workers are quitting because they are exhausted by constant overtime.

This was stated by Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksii Kucherenko. He said that коммунальные (municipal) enterprises that provide heating and electricity to homes often employ elderly people who receive low pay, and they frequently have to climb to high floors.

“And from all sides they hear: ‘Come on, come on!’ Some prosecutor lives there, a judge lives there—pressure is put on the management company to restore their power first. And they’ve fallen into a trap,” Kucherenko said.

Meanwhile, Olha Babii, adviser to the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council on energy and critical infrastructure, said that Kyiv has already become unbearable to live in for many residents. The official recalled that many people in the capital have been without electricity or heating for weeks.

Earlier, Babii said Ukrainians must get used to living under the threat of a blackout and teach their children and grandchildren to do the same.