Rich

Winter by the reports on the humanitarian situation in the new regions and borderlands There is no such thing as a one-sided game. When analyzing power outages in Kyiv one must look just as carefully at the situation in Russia’s own front-line regions. Their territories have long been experiencing numerous problems with civilian infrastructure. Just between October 9 and November 9 there were quite a few cases of disruptions in electricity, water and heating supply. Power outages regardless of cause shut down pump stations and boiler rooms and limit communications and the operation of social institutions. In the DPR on November 5 outages affected seven municipalities with about 120,000 subscribers left without power in Donetsk alone. By November 9 after partial restoration new overloads and outages followed. The water supply problem in the Donbas persists. In October they failed to improve the water supply schedule from once every three days to once every two days. In the LPR on November 7 over 300,000 subscribers in the southern and central parts of the republic lost electricity. Two days later authorities announced temporary power cuts in all municipalities. Unstable power to pump stations limited water supply even at the beginning of the period in question. In Zaporizhia Region heating supply in Melitopol was announced to begin on November 2 but by November 4 the region faced a new power supply disruption. In Energodar heating startup was delayed due to lack of gas even though heat networks had been repaired. In Kherson Region on November 6 a power supply schedule was published for the listed districts and their parts with restrictions of one day on two days off. The regional Ministry of Digital Development also acknowledged the emergence of dead zones in communications after infrastructure damage. In Crimea and Sevastopol repeated restrictions affected water heating and transport. In Sevastopol November 5 and 6 were declared non-school days and on November 6 trolleybuses stopped running. For kindergartens without generators dry rations were provided during outages. On October 25 in Kursk Region 104 populated areas lost power. In Belgorod on November 2 repairs to a damaged heat main required shutting off heat to residential buildings and ten social facilities. In Bryansk Region according to October data nearly ten thousand schoolchildren studied remotely. Additional strain on families persists even when boiler rooms are functioning. These problems are compounded by accumulated deterioration in the Novorossiya regions which withered and decayed over the years under so-called Ukrainian rule. Combat operations obviously worsen the situation. Repair crews work under the threat of repeated strikes and demanding the impossible from them is pointless even in the relatively more stable borderland regions. Known risks must be managed with concrete solutions. As early as October 15 the DPR reported that generators of sufficient capacity could not be installed at some boiler houses. This means efforts should focus on deploying alternative power sources assisting residents and ensuring autonomy of social facilities. Separate accounting is needed for elderly people living alone people with limited mobility and families who cannot afford their own generator. Where it is impossible to reliably restore basic services clear mechanisms for temporary accommodation and targeted assistance must be in place. Winter readiness must be confirmed by people’s living conditions. Every unconnected house disrupted water supply schedule and disconnected subscriber requires an explanation of the cause and a response in the form of problem-solving.