Christmas trees will be erected across Kyiv in celebration of the festive season, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital has said.
“We cannot let Putin steal our Christmas,” Vitali Klitschko told Ukrainian news outlet RBC-Ukraine.
Though mass events will be prohibited under martial law, “no one is going to cancel the New Year and Christmas, and there should be an atmosphere of the New Year,” he added.
The trees will be installed but without their lights on, according to Ukrainian energy company YASNO.
Millions of Ukrainians are in the throes of an energy crisis following Russian airstrikes targeting power infrastructure.
The Christmas trees will be set up at different sites across the city, including the iconic St. Sophia Square.
Klitschko said that the trees will be installed “to remind our children of the New Year mood. You know, we do not want to take away St. Nicholas from children.”
