Ukraine reprimands Kyiv mayor Klitschko after bomb shelter audit

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's government reprimanded Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko on Tuesday after criticism of city officials over the state of bomb shelters following the deaths of three people locked out on the street during a Russian air raid.

The government said it had also approved the dismissal of the heads of two Kyiv districts and two acting heads of districts.

It was not immediately clear whether Klitschko, a former boxer, would face any further action.

Uncertainty about his political future grew after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticised officials in the capital over the June 1 incident, in which two women and a girl were killed by falling debris after rushing to a shelter and finding it shut.

Zelenskiy also ordered an audit of all bomb shelters in Kyiv after the incident, and said personnel changes would be made.

Now in his ninth year as mayor, Klitschko was seen as one of Zelenskiy's highest-profile opponents before Russia's invasion in February 2022, and they had a public spat last November when the president accused him doing a poor job setting up emergency shelters to help people with power and heat.

Klitschko could not be reached for comment by Reuters on Tuesday. After the bomb shelter incident, he said he bore some responsibility but that others were to blame, especially presidential appointees to some districts of the capital.

Klitschko had earlier on Tuesday inspected a Kyiv bomb shelter equipped with an automated opening system, signalling that moves are under way to improve access to such shelters in the capital following the June 1 deaths.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting that the audit ordered by Zelenskiy had found that 77% of the shelters in Ukraine were fit for use, but that many did not "meet any standards".

He said the situation was "unacceptable" in some places, and mentioned districts in the Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions, as well as the city of Kyiv.

The government said it had also approved the dismissal of district officials in Zhytomyr, Bila Tserkva and Konotop.

Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin had been appointed to coordinate all questions and processes related to bomb shelters, it said.

(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Editing by Timothy Heritage)