Igor Terekhov met with a delegation from the US Congress and UNHCR
Representatives of the US Congress and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees were on a working visit to Kharkiv last week.
The delegation visited the metro school at the Universytet metro station and spoke with Mayor Igor Terekhov, students, and teachers.
During the conversation with the mayor, the partners were interested in how Kharkiv is coping with peak energy loads after enemy attacks, what is happening with heat and light in residential areas, how many people currently live in the city, and how support can be strengthened. Separately, the parties discussed the situation with internally displaced persons, social infrastructure needs, and clarified further priorities for cooperation.
According to Igor Terekhov, as of early February, there were about 13,000 damaged objects in the registry, including 9,500 residential buildings. The mayor thanked the American side and the UNHCR for their attention to Kharkiv and stressed that the city needs solutions that would ensure the provision of basic services even under enemy attacks.
"Today, the enemy is striking at the energy sector - something the city cannot live without. We are forced to act quickly and systematically to preserve our engineering networks and provide people with basic services. But at the same time, we are doing something equally important: creating safe places for learning so that children can study offline and families feel that there is a future in Kharkiv. And we need the support of our partners in our plans," he said.
