By Bloomberg News
Nearly four years after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the war’s toll is measured not only in the shattered cities across the border but increasingly in Russia’s own frontier regions.
Millions of Ukrainians are enduring one of the coldest winters in recent memory without reliable electricity and heating as waves of Russian missile and drone attacks have devastated energy infrastructure. Tens of thousands of Russians living along the country’s western edge are facing similar hardships now, as cross-border strikes damage essential utilities, forcing authorities to adopt emergency measures.
Belgorod, a regional capital about 40 kilometers from Ukraine, has become the most visible illustration of the growing domestic cost of the Kremlin’s war. The city of about 322,000 people is grappling with extensive damage to its energy network following Ukrainian missile attacks, with the destruction severe enough to leave residents without hot water potentially for months.
In a conflict the Kremlin has framed as distant from the lives of ordinary Russians, the experience of Belgorod and other border regions underscores how the front line has edged closer to home — bringing with it the same risks to energy systems, public services and civilian life that have defined the war on a far greater scale inside Ukraine since 2022.
Even as those regions teeter on the brink of a humanitarian emergency, top officials and state media in Moscow play down the consequences of Putin’s war on Russian soil. The president doesn’t address the plight of border communities, which gets scant mention at government meetings and is largely absent from coverage on national television channels.
Information about the scale of the damage comes primarily from regional authorities, which disclose details only intermittently. And nobody levels criticism at Putin for bringing war to their doors.
In Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said restoring hot water supplies to homes connected to the region’s centralized heating system likely won’t be possible for the rest of the winter heating season. Temperatures are currently ranging as low as minus 10C (14F) in the city.
Gladkov reported last week that around 80,000 residents were left without heating following attacks, roughly 3,000 were without gas supplies and about 1,000 had no electricity. Authorities have announced a partial evacuation, with children, large families, households with disabled children and elderly people living alone being relocated to neighboring regions until conditions stabilize.
Residents of nearby Bryansk region also spent last weekend without electricity and heating after what Governor Alexander Bogomaz described as the “most powerful UAV attack” since the start of the conflict. A total of 120 drones were downed within half a day, according to officials.
Kursk region continues to face repeated drone attacks following intense fighting last year to retake territory seized by Ukrainian forces in a surprise incursion in 2024, the first foreign military offensive inside Russia since World War II.
In February, the intensity of strikes has risen sharply on both sides, even as US-led diplomatic efforts to reach a peace deal move forward. The latest negotiations involving Russian, Ukrainian and US officials are due to start in Geneva on Tuesday.
In the week before the talks, Russia launched about 1,300 strike drones, more than 1,200 guided aerial bombs and 50 missiles over Ukraine, hitting energy and other civil infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Sunday on social media.
Zelenskiy met on Monday with officials to discuss the impact on Kyiv as well as regions of Ukraine including Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Sumy. Ukraine is preparing for energy-focused meetings with European and Group of Seven allies in France this week, he said in a post on the X platform.
Ukrainian strikes on Sunday damaged not only Belgorod’s energy infrastructure but also a regional data processing center, disrupting multiple administrative systems, according to the governor.
In Ukraine, many schools conduct classes in underground shelters to protect children from missile and drone attacks.
In Russia’s border regions, the Education Ministry says the “unstable situation” means high-school students may skip final state exams this year.
“Students and parents live in a state of constant stress,” said Natalia, a 62-year-old teacher in Belgorod. “Children can now tell by sound the difference between a missile launch, an incoming strike and the work of air defenses.”
The loudspeaker warning — “Attention! Missile threat!” — has become a routine part of their daily life, she said.
 "How Putin's war in Ukraine is also hitting Russians harder at home")
