Anton Gerashchenko@Gerashchenko_en
In the first video, people in Donetsk are seen greeting a water tanker.
In the second video, during the rain, people try to collect at least a drop of water because the water pipeline from the Siverskyi Donets was destroyed by the Russians.
When Donetsk was not occupied by Russia, the city hosted the European Football Championship, as well as concerts by Rihanna and Beyoncé.
Now, there is no more running water in the city. According to the schedule, water only appears in taps once every three days, and even then it doesn’t reach every household, so water has to be delivered by tankers, with long queues forming for it. People use plastic bags as toilets, and this filth spreads everywhere.
This is happening not only in Donetsk - water is supplied once every two days in a number of other cities, including Mariupol.
This is how Russia ‘liberated’ Donbas.
Why is this happening?
In the past three and a half years - since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 - reservoirs in Donetsk Oblast have significantly dried up.
The water supply system from the Siverskyi Donets River was destroyed.
The region’s reservoirs and underground water sources are not enough to meet the needs of the population, in part due to the extensive network of coal mines.
When the self-proclaimed “DPR” and “LPR” were created in 2014, Ukraine did not cut off this water channel, as it was still supplying water to Mariupol, which remained under Ukrainian control.
But at the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, the situation changed: the Russian army, during its offensive, destroyed a unique hydraulic structure that had supplied the region’s largest cities with water.
The Russian authorities decided to build a new canal - the Don–Donbas canal - which was supposed to begin in the Rostov-on-Don area.
It soon became clear that the new water pipeline, first of all, could not provide the region with the necessary amount of water, and second, it was built with numerous violations, with a large portion of the budget embezzled during construction.
Crimea is also suffering from a water shortage, and the situation is worsening.
One of the reasons why Russia is striving to seize southern Ukraine is that it sees this as a way to “solve the water issue” for the occupied territories.