Due to the warm weather and Russian attacks on the power grid, Ukrainian cities are ending the heating season ahead of schedule. Usually, it ends on 15 April, but a number of Ukrainian cities have already announced its early end, Komersant ukrainskyi reports
Batteries are already cold
In Kherson, the heating season ended on 25 March. It is simply too warm in the south of Ukraine.
In Kharkiv, heating was cut off on 26 March. The reason is different here – the city suffered too much from shelling of energy facilities. According to the mayor, Igor Terekhov, cutting off the heating is perhaps the only way to cope with the electricity shortage.
Vinnytsia was cut off from heating on 27 March, but healthcare and education facilities will be warmed up a little more.
In Kyiv, the heating season officially ends today, 28 March. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that it is warm outside and the weather forecasters expect the same weather in the future, so there is no need for heating. Instead, there is a need to save money on energy for both the city and its residents.
In Lutsk, the heating season is scheduled to end today, 28 March. The city is also focused on warming and trying to save money. However, in the event of a cold snap, the batteries will be switched on immediately in publicly funded institutions such as hospitals.
Lviv will have the most hybrid shutdown of the heating season on 28 March, as schools, kindergartens and hospitals will be able to receive heat supply after that if they write an application for it.
Mykolaiv: Everything except kindergartens and hospitals will be cut off from 28 March.
Khmelnytsky: on 28 March, heating was “suspended”, but will be switched back on immediately if it gets cold.
The batteries are still warm
In Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Zaporizhzhia, Ternopil, it is believed that a sharp warming will occur on Friday, so the heating should be switched off tomorrow, 29 March. In Zhytomyr, they are also guided by the weather forecast, so they are going to switch off the heating on 30 March.
The mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ruslan Martsynkiv, also announced that he would switch off the heating on 30 March, but he cited a “difficult situation with gas”.
Uzhhorod and Sumy plan to switch off heating on 1 April.
Odesa is in no hurry to switch off the heating. Here, despite the difficult situation in the energy system, settlements will be disconnected from the heating supply gradually. Some of them will wait for their turn until 8-10 April. This is despite the fact that Odesa region is not the coldest region in Ukraine.
Utilities in Rivne, Poltava and Kirovohrad regions have proved to be the most resilient, with no plans to close the heating season centrally, leaving this right to individual districts and communities. Officially, the heating season here will continue according to the law – until 15 April.