Kyiv Winter Post Rejected by Every Candidate Zelenskyy Approached

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said every person he offered the job of leading Kyiv City Administration declined it, leaving the capital without a named manager as winter approaches. "I spoke with various managers about whether they want to head the Kyiv Administration. No one wants to," Zelenskyy told journalists in a meeting reported by Ukrinform on 28 October.

Zelenskyy said he had asked Prime Minister Koretskyi to assemble a special team of managers for Kyiv, though he did not specify what authority that team would hold. "I am ready to speak personally with whoever they name to me and make a request to them. Set up a council and work out solutions," he said.

The president said he approached Vasyl Maliuk, former chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, to advise on security matters. He also spoke with Oleksandr Kubrakov, former deputy prime minister for restoration, Volodymyr Groisman, former prime minister, and Serhii Sukhomlyn, former head of the Restoration Agency. Sukhomlyn declined.

Zelenskyy said business figures and public administrators he contacted also turned away from the work. "I spoke with people from business, from other spheres of public administration. No one wants to be involved, because afterwards no one will say thank you and others will constantly talk about politics," he said.

Zelenskyy repeated criticism of Vitali Klitschko over Kyiv's winter readiness. On 13 October, the president said Kyiv was the least-prepared region in Ukraine under the country's resilience plans and began consultations on security and management steps for the city.