Kyiv mayor says metro service, water supply back after Russian strikes

[December 17, 2022]  KYIV (Reuters) - The mayor of Ukraine's capital said early Saturday the city's metro system was back in service and that all residents had been reconnected to water supply a day after the latest wave of Russian air strikes on critical infrastructure. 

People shelter inside a metro station during massive Russian missile attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine December 16, 2022. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Ukrainian officials said Russia fired more than 70 missiles on Friday in one of its biggest attacks since the Kremlin's Feb. 24 invasion, forcing emergency blackouts nationwide.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko also said heating had been restored to half the city and electricity had been returned to two-thirds.

"But schedules of emergency outages are being implemented," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "Because the deficit of electricity is significant."

Klitschko had warned of an "apocalypse" scenario for the Ukrainian capital earlier this month if Russian air strikes on infrastructure continued but also said there was no need yet for people to evacuate.

"We are fighting and doing everything we can to make sure that this does not happen," he told Reuters on Dec. 7.

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Michael Perry)

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