Ukraine says inspections found nearly a quarter of its air-raid shelters locked or unusable
CTV
Concerns around civilian safety spiked in Ukraine on Saturday, as officials announced that an inspection had found nearly a quarter of the country's air-raid shelters locked or unusable, just days after a woman in Kyiv allegedly died waiting outside a shuttered shelter during a Russian missile barrage.
Concerns around civilian safety spiked in Ukraine on Saturday, as officials announced that an inspection had found nearly a quarter of the country's air-raid shelters locked or unusable, just days after a woman in Kyiv allegedly died waiting outside a shuttered shelter during a Russian missile barrage.
The Ukrainian interior ministry said through its press service Saturday that of the "over 4,800" shelters it had inspected, 252 were locked and a further 893 "unfit for use."
That same day, the Kyiv regional prosecutor's office reported that four people were detained in a criminal probe into the 33-year-old's death on Thursday outside the locked shelter. The prosecutor's office said that one person, a security guard who had failed to unlock the doors, remained under arrest, while three others, including a local official, had been put under house arrest.
According to the prosecutor's office, the suspects face up to eight years in prison for official negligence that led to a person's death.
Also on Saturday, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that city authorities have received "more than a thousand" complaints regarding locked, dilapidated or insufficient air-raid shelters within a day of launching an online feedback service.
In a Telegram update, Klitschko reported that "almost half" of the complaints concerned facilities being locked, while about a quarter had to do with them being in poor condition. Some 250 Kyiv residents wrote in to complain of a lack of nearby shelters.
The interior ministry said that over 5,300 volunteers, including emergency workers, police officers and local officials, would continue to inspect shelters across Ukraine.
