In Yakutsk, the capital of eastern Siberia, most buildings are constructed on deep piles driven into permafrost — a type of permanently frozen ground that has remained solid for thousands of years. However, rising temperatures are causing this ground to thaw, weakening its ability to support structures. As a result, many buildings are showing signs of damage, including cracked walls, tilted floors, and doors that no longer close properly. Studies indicate that the load-bearing capacity of permafrost has decreased by 5 to 20 percent in several Russian cities due to climate change, a change that can be enough to cause entire buildings to collapse. The effects of thawing permafrost are not limited to Yakutsk. Across Russia, which has about 65 percent of its territory covered in permafrost, more than 40 percent of buildings in these regions have shown signs of deformation due to ground movement. In some areas, the ground is sinking at a rate of 2 to 12 centimeters per year, causing roads, airports, and other infrastructure to deteriorate. In the village of Tchouraptcha, about 100 kilometers from Yakutsk, the ground is sinking silently at a rate of 2 to 4 centimeters per year in some areas, while others are subsiding even faster. A local airport had to be closed in the 1990s due to the uneven terrain caused by this subsidence. The risks of thawing permafrost were dramatically highlighted in 2020 when a fuel tank collapsed in Norilsk, a northern Russian industrial city. The incident caused severe pollution in the Arctic and was attributed to the thawing of the permafrost beneath the structure. This event served as a wake-up call for Russian authorities, who now recognize the threat that melting permafrost poses to the country's infrastructure, especially in the oil, gas, and mining sectors that rely heavily on these frozen grounds. Scientific studies confirm that permafrost thaw is no longer a rare or isolated phenomenon. A 2018 study published in Nature Communications identified cities like Vorkuta as being at high risk of infrastructure damage due to permafrost degradation. On a national scale, the study estimates that four million people in Russia could be affected, with 70 percent of current infrastructure in permafrost regions facing risks. Another study in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment notes that up to 80 percent of buildings in some Russian cities have already been affected by thawing. Researchers also predict that 30 to 50 percent of critical infrastructure in Arctic regions could be at high risk by 2050. In response, Russian authorities have focused on monitoring rather than large-scale relocation. The Ministry of Ecology plans to install 140 monitoring stations across the country, each equipped with boreholes up to 30 meters deep to track permafrost conditions. These efforts provide valuable data but do not offer a solution for cities like Yakutsk and Tchouraptcha, where the ground continues to shift. For now, residents deal with the consequences of the thawing ground by repairing damage and monitoring the cracks that widen each summer, with no clear long-term solution in sight.