Desperate Appeals: Donetsk Residents Urge Putin for Immediate Water Relief Amid Crisis

“There’s no existence without water, Uncle Vova [President Vladimir Putin]. Please assist us so that we can wash, drink, and live.”

“Grant us the simplest miracle — water accessible in our homes.”

This heartfelt plea was made by schoolchildren from Donetsk, a region annexed by Russia in eastern Ukraine, in a video message directed to Putin that circulated online over the weekend.

Local residents also urged Putin to “personally oversee the water supply issues in the region” and to “hold accountable” those responsible.

Since 2014, water access has been a persistent issue for those living in Donetsk, but the crisis has become particularly severe in recent weeks.

Authorities installed by Russia established a strict water distribution schedule for Donetsk and the nearby city of Makiivka this month, permitting access only once every three days for a mere four-hour window from 5 to 9 p.m. Other towns like Mariupol, Khartsyzk, and Ilovaisk face water supply every two days, also limited to four hours.

Residents report that the available tap water is dirty, noxious, and unsuitable for drinking.

“People are forced to take buckets down to the basement and wait their turn to collect just enough water to flush the toilet. It’s not safe for cooking, bathing, or even brushing teeth,” stated a post featuring a picture of yellowish tap water shared by Donetsk Vesti DNR, a pro-Kremlin group on the VKontakte social media platform.

The same VKontakte group shared a video showing murky brown water flowing from a tap on Monday.

«Ironically, according to the Sanitary and Epidemiological Service’s claims, the tap water in our cities ‘complies with all quality standards’ and is officially deemed drinkable,» the post said, highlighting that residents are «charged for it as if it were actually safe to drink.»

Community members also pointed out that low water pressure often prevents access on higher floors of apartment buildings.

Outside the designated supply hours, residents have no choice but to depend on water delivery trucks that are not always available or pay high prices for bottled water.

A resident named Mariana told RTVI that her family needs “two 40-liter canisters and about 20 plastic bottles” to get by for two days.

“When the water truck comes, we fill up. Our arms and legs tremble, but we feel relieved to have managed to get some water,” she recounted regarding the water collection experience.

Last week, Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-installed head of the Donetsk region, even directed local officials to cap bottled water prices at 3.5 rubles ($0.04) per liter, threatening businesses with inspections from police and anti-monopoly authorities should they breach the order.

On Tuesday, Pushilin announced that 75 water trucks had arrived in Donetsk from Moscow, with 13 tankers dispatched to Makiivka from the Moscow region and additional trucks requested from Kaliningrad under a direct order from Putin.

«We continue to struggle for water… We are doing everything we can to restore its availability by clearing riverbeds and deepening reservoir bottoms. Additionally, we are relocating floating pumping stations to boost water pressure in our residents’ homes,» Pushilin said.

The region’s ongoing water crisis has intensified significantly since Russia’s large-scale invasion in 2022.

The BBC’s Russian Service examined satellite images of ten local reservoirs and found that nine have considerably diminished since the onset of the war.

The current water shortages are partially attributable to long-standing infrastructure problems, as explained by a former worker of Voda Donbassa (Water of Donbas), which manages water supply in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. He indicated that even before 2014, the water system in the area was already about 80% dilapidated.

The conflict has further disrupted the local water supply.

Since the 1950s, the region has been fed by the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal.

Ukraine didn’t block this canal in 2014, when Russia-backed separatists declared the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. However, its infrastructure, which was partially damaged during the fighting following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, remains under Kyiv’s governance, cutting off service to the occupied areas.

In 2023, a new waterway, the Don-Donbas canal, was constructed by Moscow in only four months but is only providing 25-30% of the necessary water supply, as acknowledged by local authorities.

The construction of the Don-Donbas canal was managed by former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, who was found guilty of allegedly accepting bribes exceeding 150 million rubles ($1.82 million) from a co-founder of Olimpsitistroy, the company involved in the canal’s construction.

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels report that the situation is “now worse” than it was prior to the war.

In their appeal to Putin, Donetsk residents urged the president to “investigate the actions — and inaction — of local authorities.”

“We’re not just making requests — we’re crying out. We have been stripped of our most fundamental right: access to water,” they proclaimed.