Kiev imposes nighttime curfew

The city’s mayor said it was a “forced but necessary” step amid the Russian military attack on Ukraine

Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, has imposed a curfew from 22:00 to 07:00, the city’s mayor, former world heavyweight champion boxer Vitali Klitschko, said on Thursday.

“This is a forced step, but in the current conditions of military aggression and martial law, it’s necessary for the safety of the capital’s residents,” Klitschko said in a statement released on social media.

Public transportation would not operate during the curfew, but metro stations would stay open around the clock to serve as shelters, Klitschko explained.

He urged the city’s residents to return home “on time,” adding that those who needed to move around the city at night, namely “critical infrastructure workers,” were required to have identification documents on them. The mayor did not elaborate on what the repercussions of breaking the curfew might be.

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Earlier in the day, Klitschko had told residents that the local authorities would be on hand to support them, and urged them not to “panic.” Nonetheless, he advised them to keep their “emergency packs” ready and to head for their nearest shelter if it became necessary.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Russia launched a large-scale operation in Ukraine, striking dozens of military targets across the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed it was the only option left to stop Kiev’s alleged attacks on the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. The two republics, which broke away from Ukraine back in 2014 after the Maidan coup that overthrew the democratically elected government, were formally recognized by Moscow as independent states on Monday.