Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitsyko, a former professional boxer, responded on Sunday to criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who expressed dissatisfaction with measures taken to help residents of the capital cope with power outages caused by Russian attacks, Reuters reports News.ro.

In a speech on Friday evening, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi noted that there had been many complaints about the measures taken in the capital and said that the mayor of Kyiv had not done enough to help affected residents after Russian bombings last week left them without electricity, heat and Internet.

“To be honest, we still need to work,” Zelenskyy said, referring to the municipality’s efforts.

Klitschko, who has been involved in several disputes with Zelenskyi in the past, said the president’s allies were involved in “manipulation” of the municipality’s efforts and blamed the posting of “unintelligible photos” online.

“Calling a spade a spade is ugly. Neither for Ukrainians, nor for our foreign partners,” Klitsyko said. “Today, more than ever, everyone must be united and work together. And here are some political games,” Klitsiko accused.

“I don’t want to get involved in political battles, especially in the current situation,” the mayor also said in a video posted on Telegram. “It’s ridiculous. I have something to do in the city,” he added.

Last week, Zelensky put forward the idea of ​​opening thousands of “centers of indifference” created throughout Ukraine to provide heat, water, Internet and mobile communication to residents who were left without such services in their homes.

After criticizing Zelensky, Mayor Vitaly Klitsyko said 430 “warming centers” in Kyiv were helping people cope with the aftermath of Russian attacks on power plants, and announced that more than 100 more were being considered in case of extreme conditions.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Reuters reminds, was elected president by an overwhelming majority of votes in 2019, five years after Vitaliy Klitsyko first assumed the post of mayor of the Ukrainian capital. Before the war, the two leaders clashed several times over the management of the capital and its services.