On the temporarily occupied territory of the left-bank Kherson region, Rozhnovsky water towers have begun to freeze. Old-timers say this has never happened before, even in severe frosts. Meanwhile, the occupiers are forcing people to pay them for utilities not provided – in the Nyzhni Sirohozy community residents are being required to pay for garbage collection that they were disposing of themselves.
This was reported by correspondent «IRS-South» Oleg Baturin, citing his own sources.
«To prevent the towers from freezing, the occupation authorities were collecting tarpaulins everywhere and burning them. The tarpaulins ran out, so now the occupiers are calling on people to bring them bales of straw and hay to wrap around those towers. But the problem is that there is no hay or straw anywhere, and you can’t buy any. Because 2025 was a poor harvest year,» a resident of the Nyzhni Sirohozy community told «IRS-South».
As explained by specialists who maintained the Rozhnovsky towers, the latter cannot freeze during the frosts that occur in Kherson region provided they are full of water and it is circulating. They named several reasons that can cause the towers to freeze: complete absence of water circulation, a pump failure or other automation failure, or lack of electricity. In these cases the water in the reservoir can stagnate and cool rapidly, while new, “warm” water from the well is not supplied.
This was also confirmed by «IRS-South» sources in the occupation.
«Our water towers at best stand half-empty. The occupiers are holding this water for themselves. There is constantly no electricity; generators are not used so often now because there is nothing to fuel them with – all our gas stations are empty. Therefore, of course, there is no water circulation in the towers even close to what is needed. So the occupiers invent methods with straw and hay,» said a resident of one of the villages of the Nyzhni Sirohozy community.
Meanwhile, the occupation authorities are forcing people to pay for utilities not provided. In January residents of the Nyzhni Sirohozy community received bills for garbage collection of 2–3 thousand rubles each. Moreover, these bills also arrived to those who had not signed a contract with the occupation enterprise for garbage collection and had not used this service at all.
«The occupation administration previously explained to us that only those who signed a contract should pay for garbage removal. Now they say that the budget is empty, so everyone must pay. Although in the villages there is practically no such garbage now – people collect paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, branches and use them to fuel their stoves. After all, you have to heat with something in winter!» a resident of one of the villages of the Nyzhni Sirohozy community told «IRS-South».
To avoid paying for this service the occupiers require people to gather a package of documents and bring them several witnesses who can confirm the absence of need for garbage removal. However, for a trip to Nyzhni Sirohozy from remote villages one must pay significantly more than the 2–3 thousand rubles indicated on the issued bills.
In addition, local residents are convinced that if all the documents confirming the absence of garbage are drawn up, the Russian occupiers could quite possibly impose fines for «unauthorized burning» of cardboard, bottles, branches in their own stoves and for emissions into the atmosphere.