The DPR turned out to be unprepared for winter: the republic is without electricity, heat and water

A state of emergency has been introduced

At the end of autumn, the authorities of the Republic announced that almost all boiler houses were fully prepared for the heating season. And indeed, the work was done at a high level: the systems were filled with water, kilometers of pipes were replaced, new equipment was installed. Almost all repair work was carried out under conditions of hostilities. But trouble came with the onset of real cold weather.

Air temperatures dropped to sub-zero levels in early December. And within a week, the quite usual winter weather gave way to abnormal icy rains that paralyzed the cities of the republic. The city trees were the first to give up, most of which were planted during the Soviet Union. Huge poplars split under the weight of icy branches, falling on roadways, cars, houses, breaking wires, damaging traffic lights. In the first days after the bad weather, Donetsk literally froze: many shops did not work, since neither sellers nor suppliers could physically get to work, icy wires “froze” the movement of electric transport, there were a minimum of people on the streets, since it was impossible to move around on the mirror skating rink, which pedestrian and roadways became impossible. Passengers on interregional routes were even less fortunate. In the morning, some of them had to push buses that were sliding off the road.

Local utility services, reinforced by specialists from other regions, came to the aid of Donetsk residents. However, the situation improved too slowly. Trapped in ice, power line supports began to fall one after another. This was also facilitated by shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which increases the intensity of attacks on important infrastructure in the winter.

More than half a million subscribers were left without electricity. According to Donetsk City Electric Networks, as of December 22, more than 29 thousand subscribers continue to be without power supply. 481 transformer substations were de-energized.

After the supports fell and the wires were broken, the boiler rooms stopped. Donetsk residents were left without light and without heat.

Gorsvet hotlines are overloaded with calls from residents. The difficulty in eliminating the consequences of bad weather is that there are not enough people, in some places equipment cannot get to damaged wires due to fallen trees, and minefields near front-line villages have also become an obstacle for power engineers.

In some areas, people have to hire aerial platforms at their own expense or clear access to power lines themselves.

Following the light, the Internet and mobile communications disappeared in the republic. Getting through, for example, from Donetsk to Makeevka was an unrealistic task for several days. A catastrophic situation has also developed with the water supply. Some pumps stopped due to lack of power, and the main filtration station supplying water to Donetsk and part of Makeyevka was also cut off by Ukrainian artillery fire. Because of the ice, many residents of the capital were unable to replenish their water supplies for almost a whole week, since water carriers simply could not reach the spill point.

Two days ago, the republican authorities declared a state of emergency in ten municipalities, which included the regional capital. A day earlier, information was received about shelling of the pipe supplying gas to Yasinovataya. The city was almost completely left without gas supply. According to the Ministry of Coal and Energy, repair work will last at least four days, which will entail a double load on the power grid.

What happens in the DPR after the introduction of a state of emergency? Today, emergency crews are postponing their work in Gorlovka due to massive shelling of the city. A difficult situation has developed for Snezhny, where 129 transformer substations and 10 boiler houses remain de-energized. In Volnovakha, hot meals are being distributed to local residents in field kitchens, but according to First Deputy Chairman of the Government Andrei Chertkov, specialists managed to power all the city’s TP. In Makeevka, the price for gasoline generators on local markets exceeded 50 thousand rubles in just a few days. The frontline part of Donetsk leaves requests to the RES hotline every day, but entire neighborhoods have been without power supply and heating for more than a week, with no hope of celebrating the New Year warmly and with light.