Mayor Vitali Klitschko has advised the residents of Kyiv to temporarily leave the Ukrainian capital if possible due to Russian attacks.

In an interview with AFP on Thursday, Klitschko said Kyiv was entering "survival" mode and advised local residents who could to temporarily leave the Ukrainian capital due to the risk of a large-scale crisis caused by Russian strikes on critical infrastructure.

Thursday afternoon and evening, the Russian army attacked a major energy facility in Kyiv, Ukrainian energy minister Denys Shmyhal said, without giving details.

"No matter how well we prepare, if air defense does not work, we could end up in a bad scenario," Klitschko told AFP.

At the same time, the mayor of Kyiv insisted he would never call for a full evacuation.

"That's [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's goal... the best scenario for Putin is that we all leave and hand over our empty cities and our country to him," he said.