KYIV: Kyiv has begun installing mobile concrete shelters at public transport stops, an AFP reporter saw Friday, as it grapples with air attacks and concern about the city’s preparedness for the looming winter.
The Ukrainian capital has faced an increased number of Russian aerial strikes over the past weeks, with air raid sirens wailing nearly constantly.
Round-the-clock attacks have hit residential areas, petrol stations, schools, rail and communications infrastructure and major bridges in the capital.
As the four-and-a-half-year war shows no signs of stopping, the city’s administration erected a tent-shaped, concrete shelter for commuters at a bus stop.
“The shelter is intended to provide temporary protection for people in the event of shelling during air raid alerts,” Kyiv City State Administration said on Thursday.
Kyiv, a city of three million people, plans to buy and install another 14 shelters, which provide seating for up to 10 people and space for a wheelchair, a statement read.
But the plan has drawn criticism from social media users and Ukrainian public figures over the pace of the roll-out.
“The first mobile shelter in the fifth year of the war. It can accommodate 10 people... Well done — I’m lost for words,” one user, Ivan Tykhenko, posted to Facebook.
Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said on social media that “the capital has been under attack from cruise missiles for three months, and now the people of Kyiv will have a chance to take cover.”
“So far, there’s only one such shelter... It’s best not to wait for the bus at other stops, because at this rate, they won’t start building the second one for another five years,” he added.
There have been mounting tensions between Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who criticized Klitschko for his winter preparations.
Klitschko told AFP last week the capital was in “survival” mode due to the round-the-clock attacks which had made contingency planning difficult.
But he hit back at the criticism, saying: “Finding scapegoats won’t make people warmer.”