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Vitali Klitschko

Vitali Klitschko

Mayor of Kyiv

Appears in 3 stories

Born: 1971 (age 54 years), Belovodskoe, Kyrgyzstan
Children: Max Klitschko, Elizabeth-Victoria Klitschko, and Yegor-Daniel Klitschko
Education: National Academy for Public Administration (2011), National University of Physical Education and Sport of Ukraine (2000), Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav (1996), and more
Siblings: Wladimir Klitschko
Parents: Vladimir Rodionovich Klitschko and Nadezhda Ulyanovna Klitschko

Notable Quotes

It's the first time in the history of our city that, in such severe frosts, most of the city was left without heating and with a huge shortage of electricity.

The target was to kill the city, to freeze the city, and to push people out of the city.

This is the first time in four years of full-scale war that we have seen a situation of this magnitude. — January 14, 2026

Stories

Russia escalates strikes on eve of peace talks

Force in Play

Managing unprecedented energy and heating crisis in Ukrainian capital

Russia continues massive winter strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians amid advancing trilateral peace talks. A week after the February 4-5 Abu Dhabi round yielded a 314-POW exchange and US-Russia military dialogue, Russia launched major attacks including 408 drones/39 missiles on February 6-7 targeting energy substations and the February 13 assault with 219 drones/24 missiles killing one in Odesa. Zelenskyy accused Russia of bad faith while confirming a third round of talks for next week.

Updated Feb 13

Ukraine-Russia energy infrastructure war

Force in Play

Managing city through worst infrastructure crisis of the war

Russia began systematically targeting Ukraine's power grid in October 2022. By early February 2026, after a brief U.S.-brokered pause ended on February 2, Russia launched its largest energy strikes of the year—over 70 missiles and 450 drones—hitting thermal plants in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa regions amid temperatures near -20°C, leaving over 1,000 Kyiv buildings without heat and power; strikes continued with a massive February 6-7 barrage (39 missiles, 408 drones) damaging DTEK plants (10th attack since October) and substations critical to nuclear power, blacking out 600,000 in Lviv.

Updated Feb 11

Ukraine's energy grid at breaking point

Force in Play

Defending Kyiv's crisis response amid criticism from Zelenskyy

Ukraine began the war with 38 gigawatts of power generation capacity. After 28 months of systematic Russian strikes, capacity has fallen to just 11 GW—while winter demand reached 18 GW on January 15, 2026. Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal told parliament on January 16 that 'not a single power plant left in Ukraine' has escaped Russian attack. The crisis deepened when temperatures hit -19°C in Kyiv in mid-January, leaving 471 apartment buildings without heat as of January 14. A massive Russian attack on January 24 involving 396 drones and missiles left 80% of Ukraine facing emergency power cuts, with half of Kyiv's apartment buildings losing heating and over 800,000 Kyiv households still without power the following day.

Updated Jan 30