(Reuters) – The Ukrainian capital plans to build up more fortifications because the risk of Russian attack remains, Kyiv authorities said on Thursday.
Russian forces tried to take the capital in the first phase of their full-scale invasion launched in February 2022, but retreated after facing fierce Ukrainian resistance.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Kyiv would allocate 800 million hryvnias ($21.74 million) to build fortifications and for other urgent military needs.
“Kyiv is and will be the number one priority target for the enemy,” Serhiy Popko, head of the military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russian forces hold swathes of the east and south of the country, and there is no immediate sign for now that they plan another assault on the Ukrainian capital.
But Kyiv is regularly targeted by missile and drone attacks. The latest one killed two people on Wednesday.
Klitschko also said he would make a separate amendment for consideration in the city’s budget to allocate 300 million hryvnias for the needs of Ukraine’s armed forces.
($1 = 36.7950 hryvnias)
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Edting by Bill Berkrot)
