Thousands without heat: one of Ukraine's cities is on the brink of collapse.

Critical situation with heating supply in Kryvyi Rih

The heating supply in Kryvyi Rih is in critical condition: as of November 22, 2024, 923 residential buildings, the central city hospital, dozens of kindergartens, schools, and other social facilities remain without heating.

This issue affects about 200 thousand residents of the city and has already come under the control of the Office of the President of Ukraine. After energy expert and founder of the NGO 'Consumer Union of Utility Services' Oleg Popenko publicly expressed his concern about this situation, it received significant resonance.

'In order for the solution to the heating problem of an entire city to collapse, it was necessary to resort to public discussion of the problem in the media,' noted the expert in his Telegram channel. After the public illumination of the problem, Deputy Minister Timur Tkachenko took the situation under personal control.

According to him, the main causes of the crisis include:

1. Numerous hydraulic shocks on heating networks;
2. Frequent power outages due to enemy attacks;
3. Critical wear of technical equipment;
4. Systematic ruptures in heating routes.

An expert analysis of the city budget showed that the allocation of funds is unbalanced. In total, the city budget amounted to 9.2 billion hryvnias, of which only 499.2 million hryvnias were allocated to the housing and communal services sector.

'If at least a third of this money had been directed towards the modernization of heating routes instead of landscaping work, the scale of heating problems would have been significantly smaller,' emphasized Popenko.

The expert cites the example of successful resolution of similar problems in Kremenchuk. Despite the billion-dollar debts of the state CHP and a difficult situation with debt to Naftogaz, it was possible to restore heating supply in Kremenchuk.

'In Kremenchuk, all parties gathered under the head of the OVA, discussed the situation, reached agreements, legally formalized the decisions, and from November 5 heating has been supplied to all homes. This demonstrates that when there is a will, the problem can be solved,' noted Popenko. The situation is complicated by the position of the mayor of Kryvyi Rih Vilkul, who, according to the expert, shifted the responsibility onto Naftogaz.

However, Popenko, who has been monitoring the start of the heating season for the last 5-6 years, points to deeper systemic problems in city management and the need for a comprehensive approach to solving them.