"Temperature in apartments +11": heating season in occupation. How do they prepare?

This winter, Mariupol will once again be without central heating for the residents of the destroyed city, notes the Center of National Resistance. Despite the report of the occupation authorities about the readiness of hot water networks for the heating season by at least 60 percent, this does not correspond to reality. The boiler rooms have not been renovated at all and the occupiers will not be able to put them into operation before the start of winter, according to sources.

The Radio Liberty project "News from the Azov region" decided to find out how they are preparing for the heating season in the occupied territories in the south. What are the occupation authorities reporting and what is the actual state of the hot water networks in the region, as well as in which settlements it will be most difficult to survive the winter period.
Deputy of the Mariupol City Council Roman Ameljakin believes that the winter season in the city will be difficult. He doubts the 60 percent readiness of the hot water network, according to local occupation officials.
"Let's start with the fact that in 2022, during the occupation of Mariupol, many houses were destroyed. The occupiers then demolished entire blocks. All this (military actions in Mariupol - ed.) damages the heating infrastructure. We didn't have much heating, boiler rooms. In such circumstances, it would be very difficult to maneuver quickly, and now the occupiers dug up the hot water pipes in early September in order to replace them. They work, like everyone else in Russia, very slowly. That's why 60 percent of readiness is questionable, but real readiness is 30 percent," Ameljakin believes.

"Bet on electric heaters"

Before the occupation of the city, the majority of the population of Mariupol received central heating through several large boiler houses, there was no individual heating in the city.
"The private sector, of course, heats with gas or electricity. Maybe someone still has stoves for heating or in these years of occupation someone installed solid fuel boilers. Before the invasion of Mariupol, the load on the boiler room was at the lower limit of the project. Therefore, sometimes excess fuel had to be burned to maintain this lower limit. Because of this, heating was not cheap per square meter. Now the situation has worsened, because the heating areas have simply disappeared from the face of the earth. This further worsens the situation, because if the boiler house is designed for a certain capacity, it cannot work below a certain limit", explained Ameljakin.
Many residents of Mariupol are now preparing themselves for the heating season - they are buying electric heaters and other equipment, says Ameljakin. But there were also problems with the use of such devices in the past years. According to him, the situation with the old power networks worsened after the Russian occupation of the city.

"In the past years, there have been cases of fires and ignition of these networks because people were warming themselves with electric heaters. I don't see people going there. They are getting ready, buying electric heaters, which they don't have yet, counting on them to survive the winter. There is no panic among people, because in the spring of 2022, people experienced much worse conditions. In addition, there is the propaganda of the occupiers who say that 60 percent of the networks will be restored and that very soon there will be a 100 percent restoration and everyone will have heating. The local population must not go to any actions and resist. So, even if somewhere someone doesn't have heating, people will have to endure and somehow solve this problem themselves", noted Ameljakin.

Energodar: "The situation is getting worse"

At the end of September, Yevhen Balicki, who was appointed by Russia to manage the occupied part of the Zaporozhye region, announced that this region was also preparing for the heating season. At the same time, Balicki admitted that there are difficulties with critical infrastructure in Energodar, Vasilovka and Dniprorudno.
In Melitopol, according to Russian-controlled media, the occupation authorities created regional and city headquarters to monitor the heating season. It appears that businesses and other institutions are creating reserves of backup fuel for the smooth operation of heat supply facilities.
The head of the "Energodar" occupation administration, Eduard Senovoz, said in a statement to the local TV channel "ZaTV" that the work on "preparations for the autumn-winter period is proceeding according to plan, and the city will be fully prepared". "
Serhij Holod, deputy mayor of Energodar, told "Novosti iz Priazovia" that the situation in the city worsens with each year of occupation. Previously, the passing of the heating season directly depended on the stable operation of the Thermal Power Plant and the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant.
"Today the thermal power plant was destroyed, the nuclear plant is not working. Last year, the heating season was difficult. To date, we have no stable information that they are somehow preparing for the heating season. But we understand very well the information we get about what happens when there is power for an hour and then there is no power for half a day or a day. Of course, the water supply also depends on it. In previous years, we had information that they imported mobile special installations that provided heating. But this is not the kind of heating that existed under the authorities of Ukraine, when in September we already knew information about every house in the city and every enterprise received certificates of readiness, a certain check was carried out. Now, as far as I know, no one is doing that," the official said.

"Connected to Russian power grid"

Last season, there was heating in Energodar, but with malfunctions, says Holod. In particular, the temperature regime was unbearable: "Last year, the temperature in some houses was +12, +13 degrees, and in some places it was +11 degrees".
Energodar has been reconnected to the Russian power grid, the official says. However, in his opinion, the occupation authorities will not be able to ensure the heating season in the city at the same level as it was before the occupation.
"They destroyed the entire thermal energy system that was in the city. They cut it, attached it to their mobile installations. It will take time to rebuild it all. As far as we know, no one has done this during the spring and summer. So I think it's unrealistic. How will they survive there today? I don't know. All the experts who worked there have left. There are a lot of people left in the city. "Sometimes it seems like there are more visitors than locals," Holod said.
Russian troops occupied the city of Energodar and the nearby Zaporozhye nuclear plant in early March 2022. In September 2023, the president of "Energoatom" reported that 822 Ukrainian nuclear workers remain at the plant. Ukraine has repeatedly accused the Russian occupiers of kidnapping and torturing station staff.
Kherson region: "They cut down the forest for firewood"

The head of the Kherson regional council, Aleksandr Samoilenko, in a comment for "Novosti iz Azov" pointed out that all the energy resources that Russia has at its disposal in the occupied territory of the region belong to Ukraine.
"We are talking about energy products that come from Ukrainian sources. If we take the territory of the Kakhovsky and Henichesky districts, which are currently under occupation, they receive Ukrainian electricity, which today supplies the entire energy system of the left bank. The same is the case with gas supply, because there is no gas pipeline from the territory of the Russian Federation. All these sources are Ukrainian. And the Ukrainian authorities have not made any decisions about reducing that volume or turning it off, because the citizens of Ukraine who need these energy sources live in the occupied territories. We must clearly understand that the occupiers are not doing anything for the occupied territories," says Samoilenko.
The president of the regional council believes that the hardest winter will be for the inhabitants of those territories affected by the destruction of Kahovska HPP. It will not be easy in the areas closer to the front, where the shelling continues.

"Last winter showed that the territory of cities and towns that are located closer to the Dnieper and suffered during the flood, due to the accident at the Kahovska HPP, all the electrical substations and pumping stations there were destroyed. Therefore, the heating supply will be at the level of some kind of stoves, that is, firewood stored there - now the forest and plantations located there are being cut down. The occupiers are not carrying out any planning works. Such information comes from our people," Samoilenko said.
The heating infrastructure in the settlements on the left bank of the Kherson region is in a dilapidated state, so local residents may suffer from a lack of heating, the politician added.
"I am sure that cities like Kahovka and Skadovsk will suffer from a lack of heat energy. The town of Nova Kahovka depends a little on the actions of the occupiers. Autonomous heating is installed in each apartment. The main thing is to monitor the pressure in the pipelines through which the gas flows. Well, there was a water main so residents could fill the system. There is hope that at least this city will not freeze," said Samoilenko.