At a meeting on 7 October, the staff of the Kyiv Region Defence Council reviewed how the region is preparing for the heating season and why the construction of shelters in schools is dragging on.

This was reported by the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko.

Resilience ahead of the heating season

The number of attacks on the region’s infrastructure is not falling, while the heating season is close, Tkachenko noted. He briefed representatives of the Defence Forces, law enforcement and other stakeholders on how the resilience plan is actually being carried out.

The meeting decided what needs to be sped up and where.

The Bucha area is also preparing for winter: the Bucha community has installed eight generators from the Ministry of Energy at critical infrastructure, and the Irpin water utility has received five more.

A shelter that has still not been handed over

The second issue was the deadlines for building and fitting out shelters, above all for children. As an example, Tkachenko named the Shevchenkivska gymnasium in the Velyka Dymerka community of Brovary district.

According to him, the shelter there has long been practically ready, but the work has dragged on unacceptably. Two weeks ago he arrived at the site unannounced and saw neither work nor workers, although he had been told otherwise that morning.

Tkachenko then gave two weeks to finish the job, but that deadline has also passed.

At first the community explained the delay by saying the ventilation equipment had not arrived because the manufacturer’s plant had been shelled. After Tkachenko contacted the manufacturer himself, the head of the community admitted that the ventilation had never been ordered, he said.

Parents have been given a new deadline of 30 November, which is effectively winter.

Contractors and the community must stop dragging their feet and speed up. Without working together, the children cannot start proper lessons

Tymur Tkachenkohead of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration

What happens next

The regional authorities have complaints against contractors and some officials over the delays, and these were voiced in the presence of law enforcement. Tkachenko expects both results on the ground and a legal assessment of how the contracts are being fulfilled.

Where a financial interest of particular groups has been established, law enforcement must step in, and in some cases this falls under the jurisdiction of the SBU, he stressed.

Complaints about the state of shelters and the pace of repairs, according to Tkachenko, are coming in from various communities. They are being collected, some are being handled individually, and the general problems will be discussed at the Defence Council and at a meeting of the Transparency and Accountability group.

Finishing as many school shelters as possible before winter is the priority the President set during a visit to one of Bucha’s lyceums on 2 October, Tkachenko recalled.

As a reminder, schools in the Bucha community are looking for ways to feed children in shelters during long alerts.

Nota bene

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