How the war is driving russia toward a utility collapse
In the settlement of atamanovka in russia’s zabaykalsky krai, a third rupture in the heating system has occurred within just a few days. Due to this chain of accidents, thousands of residents remain without heating in –30°C temperatures.
▫️ Breakdowns in the heating network were recorded on 30 December, 2 January, and 5 January. While utility services were trying to patch one failure, the system could not withstand the load and burst elsewhere. Mass attempts by residents to keep warm using electric heaters led to power outages, which in turn caused problems with water supply.
▫️ Local authorities openly admit that the cause of the accidents is the critical wear of the heating networks. The situation in atamanovka is not an exception, but rather a projection of the state of utility infrastructure across russia. According to official data, network wear in the regions reaches 40–80%, making heating and water supply failures almost routine with the onset of cold weather.
The root cause of this degradation is the war against Ukraine. The authorities are effectively spending all available funds on the destruction of Ukrainian cities instead of investing in their own infrastructure, which is in urgent need of repair. As long as the putin regime chooses war, the utility collapse in russian regions will only deepen.
