The occupying administration of occupied Mariupol has announced a significant increase in housing and utility rates, which has already caused considerable outrage among local residents.
This is reported by Finway
Water prices have nearly doubled
From now on, Mariupol residents are forced to pay nearly 97% more for water supply than before. If at the beginning of 2025 the cost of one cubic meter of water was about 21.20 rubles, it has now skyrocketed to 41.84 rubles. The increase amounts to 20.64 rubles per cubic meter. This is particularly dramatic against the backdrop of a severe water shortage in the city: water supply is limited to just a few hours every two days.
“And this is despite the acute water shortage in Mariupol. Water is supplied only a few hours every two days,” the report states.
Many apartment buildings remain completely without water for weeks. Desperate residents are forced to drain water from heating systems, which leads to a loss of heat in their apartments.
Record increase in heating prices
No less impressive is the increase in heating tariffs – the price has risen nearly fourfold, to 292%. Previously, the cost of heating was 12.51 rubles per square meter per month, but now residents will pay 49.08 rubles. Despite such a significant increase, the city regularly experiences accidents in the heating networks, and boilers often break down. The occupying authorities do not allocate enough funds for repairs, and old networks are not replaced, exacerbating heating supply problems.
Representatives of the occupying administration claim that the increase in tariffs is related to the rise in the VAT rate in the Russian Federation from 20% to 22%. At the same time, they do not hide that this is just the beginning of a large-scale review of utility prices.
The Mariupol City Council emphasizes:
“This is presented as an element of a ‘strategy for gradually bringing tariffs to an economically justified level.’ In reality, it is an attempt to shift the financial burden of economic difficulties in the Russian Federation onto the Ukrainian population in the occupied territories.”