The last straw for Donbass. Russia has brought the region to a humanitarian catastrophe

In the 12th year of occupation, part of the territory of the Donetsk region, under the control of the Russian Federation and its satellites, has faced a challenge of extremely serious proportions. This is a lack of water: there is not enough for cooking or basic hygiene needs. First of all, the residents of occupied Donetsk are acutely feeling this problem. Their life has now become similar to scenes from Soviet films about the time of World War II. In particular, in Donetsk and Mariupol, centralized water supply has either been completely suspended or is carried out on a schedule. People are forced to look for alternative sources of water.

Day after day, local telegram channels say the same thing: in such and such a courtyard in Donetsk, so much and so much drinking water was delivered, but it was not enough for everyone. In parallel, information is spreading about mountains of garbage on the streets of the occupied regional center. Such a collapse is now forcing even the most ardent Putin supporters to tell the truth.

“The disorganization and disorder of those in charge are causing justified indignation among the population. These are serious issues that are being left to the whims of careless and incompetent officials,” diagnoses journalist-propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova.

“What is happening now in the Donetsk region is the beginning of the end. The Luhansk region and Zaporizhia will follow, because a water disaster is also happening in the Luhansk region. There is almost no water in Seversko-Donetsk, Lisychansk and Rubizhne. And it will only get worse,” gives a gloomy forecast by volunteer and former president of Mariupol television Mykola Osychenko, whom Glavcom spoke with.

Glavcom investigated how Russia brought the occupied part of Donbass to such a state and what the water crisis could lead to.

Water problem: reaction of the people and the occupation authorities

The problem of water supply in the temporarily occupied cities of Donbas, especially Donetsk and Mariupol, worsened after 2022. Shelling led to damage to key infrastructure facilities, especially the Seversky Donetsk-Donbass canal. Local environmentalists confirm: this canal is the basis for the water supply of Donetsk and partly Luhansk regions.

It supplies water to Kostantinivka, Kramatorsk, Slavyansk, Avdiivka, Pokrovsk, Selidove, Majorsk, Toreck. Without it, Horlivka and partly Donetsk will be left without drinking water.

 

Currently, according to Oleg Tsarev, a former Party of Regions MP and collaborator convicted in absentia in Ukraine, the situation has reached a critical point: water in Donetsk and Makiivka is delivered only once every three days. In some cities - once every two. However, even this schedule is often not observed, and if water does appear, it is dirty, technical and not drinkable.

For example, in occupied Makiivka, people are coming up with their own ways to store water: a man filmed himself collecting water from an air conditioner, drop by drop, into a bucket.

In a video posted on the channel of pro-Russian propagandist Tetyana Montyan (she is accused of a number of crimes in Ukraine, including collaboration), a woman from Donetsk calls the dispatcher of the Donbas Water company and complains about systematic interruptions in the centralized water supply. On the other end of the phone, she is advised... to monitor the water supply. In some occupied cities of the Donetsk region, the schedule of these events is publicly posted.

On the Internet, residents of the territories occupied by Russia complain about the situation.

In some areas, if water appears in the taps, then it flows in a thin stream, most often only in the basements or on the lower floors. On the upper floors, water is an unprecedented luxury.

Despair and disappointment are gradually taking hold, even among those who previously firmly supported the "Russian world". Marina Kharkova, a propagandist for the so-called "DNR", admitted that people are leaving occupied Donetsk en masse. The reason is not only the lack of water, but also the general deterioration of living conditions: the communal system is falling apart, garbage is not being collected, it rots in the open in the summer heat.

People see no prospects or future for their children, and the city, which was once the pride of the region, is turning into an environment unsuitable for life.

It is simply impossible to hide the humanitarian catastrophe. A video appeal by children from Donetsk has spread across the Internet, in which they call dictator Putin "Uncle Vova"

and ask to be given a "miracle" in the form of water. A video is also being shared in which Donetsk residents joyfully applaud a water truck.

How are the occupation authorities behaving?

The leader of the so-called "DNR" Denis Pushilin said that robotic diagnostic systems will be used to reduce leaks in the water supply system. According to him, this will reduce water losses by up to 30 percent. However, the promises of the Kremlin puppets about the implementation of "innovative solutions" do not correspond to the real state of affairs.

 

In addition, Pushilin reported that the construction of new water supply systems for pumping water from the Pavlopil and Vuglehirsk reservoirs is allegedly being accelerated. The occupation authorities promise to deliver the necessary equipment and materials from Russian factories. However, as with many other infrastructure promises made by the occupation administration, no progress is visible.

Also in July, Russian Construction Minister Irek Faizullin visited the territory of the occupied Donetsk Oblast. Pushilin took him to local reservoirs and discussed cleaning riverbeds. At the same time, there was talk of increasing the capacity of the Don-Donbass water supply system.

Another initiative is the search for underground water sources. According to the occupation authorities, experts have completed work on the Shevchenkivsky and Kipucha Krinitsa water intakes. They have measured and calculated how much water can be taken from the wells. They promise that this will provide water for some areas of the Donetsk Oblast for years to come.

In the meantime, the Russians are trying to transport drinking water by tankers. According to the administration, 75 tankers and 50 repair teams have arrived from Moscow. Another 13 tankers have arrived in Makiyevka from the Moscow region. In addition, more than 550 containers have been set up throughout the territory from which people can draw water.

The occupation authorities admit that the water supply situation is truly deplorable. The "DNR" is asking for additional help: Pushilin appealed to the Kaliningrad region to provide even more tankers for transporting water.

Expert: "This is the beginning of the end"

Glavcom asked volunteer, public figure and former director of Mariupol television Mykola Osychanko to comment on the water supply situation in the temporarily occupied territories. He has repeatedly reported on the problems of critical infrastructure and has experience of life under occupation.

Osychanko believes that the water shortage in the occupied territories is a direct consequence of the occupation of the Ukrainian Donbass, as well as the long-term ignoring of the problem by the Russian authorities.

Osichanko explains: after the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, the central water supply system of Seversky Donets-Donbas, which supplied most of the cities of the Donetsk region with water, was put out of service. “It was destroyed during the fighting, pumping stations, dams and filtration plants were destroyed. It became impossible to supply water,” the expert explains in detail.

The Ukrainian side has repeatedly tried to restore the water supply, but the facilities have been shelled again. Instead of repairing the destroyed infrastructure, the Russian occupation administration has begun trying to divert water from other sources - local reservoirs and underground wells. But this did not last long.

“What they are using now are emergency sources that are not designed for long-term supply. They are being depleted. The reserves will last for several months, a year at most,” the expert says.

According to Osichenko, the Russian Don-Donbass water pipeline, which was supposed to solve the problem, is only partially operational and provides less than a third of the region’s needs. Part of the budget for its construction was stolen, and the official who led the project, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, is currently under investigation.

People in the occupied territories are disappointed. Even those who supported the “Russian world” no longer see a hint of a “bright future.” Osichenko emphasizes that the water situation has become the last straw. Infrastructure problems, lack of prospects and constant lies are forcing people to leave the region. It also draws attention to the fact that the local population is increasingly associating water supply problems with the actions of the self-proclaimed authorities. According to experts, the leader of the “DNR” Denis Pushilin has become the main target of public discontent.

“He understands that he can simply be eliminated at any moment. And now all the negative feelings of the people are directed at him,” says Osychenko. “They accuse him, in particular, of the lack of water, although the shelves of stores are literally overflowing with bottled water. There is more than enough of it - if you have money, you can buy water and even wash yourself.”

According to experts, there is an opinion in the region that the factories that produce bottled water belong to Pushilin.

“Locals say that separate branches were made from the barely functioning Don-Donbass water supply system specifically for these factories. That is, the water is primarily directed there,” notes Osychenko.

Yes, Russia has sent 75 water tankers to Donetsk, but this, according to Osichenko, is just a “pretentious show”: the million-strong population of Donbass has less than a liter of water per person per day. And it is not clear where these water tankers will collect water, since there are practically no more sources.  

 

“What is happening now in the Donetsk region is the beginning of the end. Lugansk and Zaporozhye will follow, because the Lugansk region is also a disaster with water supply. In Seversko-Donetsk, Lisichansk, Rubizhne, there is almost no water. And it will only get worse,” explains Osychenko.

The expert says that the water shortage is directly related to energy problems: “If there is no electricity, the pumps will not work – there will be no water. We went through this in Mariupol back in March 2022. They bombed the substations – and that’s it: no water, no sewage, no heating. The same thing awaits other occupied cities.”

A special threat, according to experts, is the heating season. “When there is no water in the taps, people start draining it from the batteries. This was the case in Horlivka – then they (the residents of the city – “Glavkom”) even added dye to the coolant so that people would not drink it. However, such radical measures of the authorities did not stop people," recalls Osichenko.

Osichenko warns: the housing and communal sector, agriculture, and even food safety are at risk. All this, according to him, can be part of a deliberate policy.

"Russia does not need local residents. Even if they were to get Russian passports, Moscow does not trust them. They want these people to either leave or simply disappear. Then they will bring their own, as was already the case in Kaliningrad (After World War II, the territory of modern Kaliningrad (former German Königsberg) was annexed by the USSR, and the local population was almost completely evicted, and Russians settled in their place," the expert explains.