18.08.2026
When it comes to heat in a front-line city, it has long been a question not only of a utility service, but primarily of the life support, resilience of the community and, ultimately, its ability to remain Ukrainian.
Kramatorskteploenergo LLC operates in precisely such conditions. Kramatorsk CHP is one of the key heat supply facilities of the city and the critical infrastructure of the region. The enterprise provides heat to 52 thousand residents, including children, the elderly, hospital patients and wounded soldiers. At the same time, the CHP itself and its infrastructure regularly become targets of Russian attacks. According to the enterprise, since the beginning of the full-scale war, its facilities have been damaged dozens of times, and the losses are estimated at hundreds of millions of hryvnias.
The heating season of 2025/2026 was especially indicative. In October 2025, literally on the eve of the start of the heating season, the Kramatorsk CHP suffered a new missile strike. The enterprise had to actually restore damaged equipment in emergency mode and launch the system so that the city could receive heat. And this was against the backdrop of a chronic financial deficit, debts, worn-out equipment, problems with settlements and an acute shortage of personnel.
In fact, Kramatorskteploenergo is forced to simultaneously solve tasks that in peacetime would be spread over years: repair the destroyed, maintain the system, prepare for the next winter, provide people with heat – and do this under the constant threat of new shelling. At the same time, the financial condition of the enterprise remains critical, and the insufficient level of settlements jeopardizes further activities.
But behind all the numbers, debts, tariffs and damaged equipment, there is the main thing – people. Workers who remain at their workplaces go to accidents, restore networks and equipment after shelling, and virtually maintain the Kramatorsk thermal front every day.
How does an enterprise work when war leaves no room for error? Is it possible to prepare for the heating season, when at any moment another strike can destroy the results of months of work? And what needs to be changed at the state level so that heat supply enterprises in frontline communities do not just survive, but have the opportunity to provide people with heat after the next winter?
This was stated by Roman Polishchuk, CEO of Kramatorskteploenergo LLC, in an interview with Energy Club journalist Olena Karpachova. The man who defended Ukraine and now holds the energy front in a city located 8 kilometers from the front line understands his own mission better than anyone else, takes on new obligations every day and knows the price of mistakes. Roman Polishchuk speaks frankly about the company’s work under fire, responsibility for tens of thousands of people, the financial crisis of the heat supply industry, the necessary support from the state and international partners, as well as what the Kramatorsk heat supply system should be in order to withstand even the most difficult challenges.
– Mr. Roman, Kramatorskteploenergo LLC provides heat to residential buildings, hospitals, schools, kindergartens, social facilities and other institutions in Kramatorsk. How is the company doing today? What tasks are most important to you in war conditions?
– Today, the company is living in a mode of constant improvisation.
Our main task is to provide the population in the Ukrainian-controlled territory of the Donetsk region with basic needs.
– Kramatorsk is located not far from the front line. How does this affect the daily work of the enterprise, personnel safety, repair work, logistics and planning of the heating season?
– Today, the distance to the front line is 8 kilometers. We cannot plan work, since the enterprise is located in a rear city. Any repair must be considered, first of all, from the point of view of people’s safety.
War does not give us the right to make mistakes!
In recent years, we have repeatedly gone through situations when, after damage, it was necessary to restore the system literally in the shortest possible time. For example, in October 2025, the Kramatorsk CHP suffered significant damage as a result of a missile strike, and this happened immediately before the heating season. Despite this, the enterprise was able to prepare the system and start the heating season, during which there were another 32 emergency stops.
– Your company provides heat to tens of thousands of city residents, including children, the elderly, hospital patients, and wounded soldiers. What does this responsibility mean to you in the current conditions?
– I understand that this is a very big responsibility: the life support of people and the defense capability of the country as a whole depend on the work of the company.
During the 2025/2026 heating season, we managed to provide heat to more than 52 thousand residents of Kramatorsk. For me, this is primarily the result of workcollective. Every operator, mechanic, electrician, engineer, dispatcher, driver and repairman of the Kramatorsk CHPP understands that his work strengthens the eastern shield of the country.
– The Kramatorsk CHPP has a long history – from its commissioning in the 1930s to its operation in modern war conditions. How has the role of the enterprise for the city changed over these decades and especially after the start of the full-scale invasion?
– The role of the enterprise has always been extremely important, but the war has made it even more obvious.
Heat power is one of those industries whose importance people especially feel when a problem arises. When the house is warm, we often do not think about how much work is behind it.
After the start of the full-scale war, the CHPP and the entire heat supply system became part of the critical infrastructure on which the stability of the region depends.
– What are the biggest technical, financial and organizational challenges facing Kramatorskteploenergo today? What is the most difficult – debts, tariffs, equipment, fuel, repairs, personnel or the risk of shelling?
– It is impossible to single out one problem. They overlap.
There is a technical problem – aging equipment and damage to infrastructure. There is a financial one – huge debt and insufficient payments for heat. There is a personnel problem – there are fewer and fewer people willing to work in such conditions. And there is the main factor that distinguishes us from enterprises in safer regions – the constant threat of shelling.
The financial issue is especially painful for us. An enterprise with arrested accounts cannot repair and modernize equipment: there are not enough funds even to maintain the system in its current state.
We actually found ourselves in a situation where we must perform an extremely important social function, but the state’s economic model does not allow for its full realization.
Therefore, we need a comprehensive approach – not just talking about the tariff, but providing the enterprise with the opportunity to cover reasonable costs, repay accumulated debts, repair equipment and invest in modernization.
– How is the enterprise preparing for the new heating season? What work is already being carried out and what assistance from the state, local authorities, partners or international organizations is most needed?
– Preparation for the next heating season actually begins immediately after the end of the previous one.
We conduct equipment inspections, identify the most critical areas, form a list of repairs, work on restoring damaged facilities, prepare heat networks and heat supply sources.
It is very important for us to have not only the main equipment, but also a reserve: pumps, electrical equipment, shut-off valves, materials for emergency repairs.
The need for help today is very specific: it is equipment, materials, financing for restoration, backup power sources, modern cogeneration plants and other solutions that allow the system to be more autonomous.
We are grateful to everyone who helps the enterprise, especially UNICEF Ukraine and the Embassy of Switzerland. But the scale of the problem is such that without systematic support from the state and partners, it is extremely difficult to solve all the problems on our own.
– Energy and heat supply workers in frontline cities often remain invisible heroes. How do you assess the work of your team and what helps people stay on the ground and fulfill their duties?
– I consider our employees to be real heroes!
We talk a lot about equipment, gas, electricity, finances. But the most valuable resource is people! A person who goes to an accident at night, knowing that the city is being shelled, understands his responsibility.
People stay because they feel needed.
And I want to thank each employee of the enterprise separately. It is thanks to their professionalism and endurance that we are going through these extremely difficult periods.
– What decisions or changes at the level of state regulation could really help heat supply enterprises in frontline communities? What does the district heating market need today for stable operation?
– First of all, a systematic state policy is needed for heat supply enterprises in frontline regions. An enterprise operating under shelling cannot be evaluated by the same criteria as an enterprise in a conditionally safe region.
Mechanisms for compensating for war losses, access to financing for restoration, support for enterprises with critical debt, stable supply of energy resources, and the ability to attract investments are critically important for us.
A separate issue is tariff policy. The tariff must be economically justified, and the enterprise must have resources for restoration and development.
In 2025, the National Commission for the Regulation of Energy and Utilities of Ukraine (NKREKP) made changes to the structure of the enterprise’s tariff for repair work without changing the tariff itself. But it is obvious that for an enterprise of this scale and with such military risks, more comprehensive solutions are needed.
– Do you see opportunities for modernization of the Kramatorsk CHP and the heat supply system after the war? What should be the priorities – energy efficiency, cogeneration, backup sources, distributed generation, new technologies?
– Absolutely. And I believe that after the war we must restore what was destroyed.
If we already have the opportunity to actually rethink the system, it must be made more modern, energy efficient and resistant to external threats.
I see the future in a combination of different technologies: SMR, cogeneration, backup heat sources, distributed generation, modern automation systems and energy-efficient heat networks.
Therefore, I would formulate the main principle of future modernization simply: the system must be resilient.
– What would you like to say to the residents of Kramatorsk, the employees of the enterprise and everyone who today does not always see at what price heat and electricity are provided in frontline cities?
– I want to say to the residents of Kramatorsk: we understand how important heat is for you in your homes. And we do everything possible to ensure that it is there. Please pay for the heat received on time. For the enterprise, this is an opportunity to buy materials, carry out repairs, pay for gas/electricity, prepare equipment for the next winter and save jobs.
Our enterprise has repeatedly proven that even in extremely difficult conditions it is possible to provide Kramatorsk with heat. But this requires joint efforts – from employees, residents, city authorities, the state and partners.
And I would like to say separately to our employees: thank you! For your endurance, professionalism and for staying at your workplaces.
We work for the people and for Kramatorsk to remain and develop under the Ukrainian Flag!
Source: Roman Polishchuk, LinkedIn
Today, Kramatorskteploenergo is much more than a heat supply company. It is part of the life support of the city, which remains under the Ukrainian Flag despite daily shelling. And if the state talks about the resilience of frontline communities, this resilience must have not only declarative, but also concrete financial, organizational and managerial support.
An enterprise cannot be faced with a choice: pay debts or buy equipment, repay obligations or prepare for winter, survive today or provide heat to people tomorrow. Especially when a significant part of the debt load was formed due to tariff restrictions and the unreimbursed difference in tariffs. On a national scale, this is already a systemic problem of district heating, and for front-line Kramatorsk it can become a matter of the city’s physical survival.
The state needs not to wait for another accident or heating season, but to act now: unblock the accounts of critically important enterprises, fulfill obligations to compensate for the difference in tariffs, settle accumulated debts, ensure access to gas and financing for restoration. At the same time, protect the thermal infrastructure, create the necessary equipment reserve and accelerate the implementation of cogeneration, distributed generation and other autonomous solutions. After all, it is precisely the insufficient equipment reserve, financial constraints and vulnerability of the thermal infrastructure that are today called among the main risks of the upcoming heating season.
And most importantly, the state needs to see behind the balance sheets of enterprises people. More than 52 thousand residents who received heat from Kramatorskteploenergo last winter are those who consciously stayed in their city, in their country, under their Ukrainian Flag.
Saving Kramatorskteploenergo means saving the opportunity for these people to stay in Kramatorsk. To stay at home. To stay in Ukraine. To remain Ukrainians.
Therefore, today the question is no longer only whether the enterprise will survive the next winter. The question is whether the state will help those who have been standing up for Ukraine all these years to survive.
