The war for water is raging in Ukraine, which is besieged by Russian troops

This is the hypothesis shared by military experts and researchers specializing in the study of water. Since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, control of this vital resource has been a priority constant for the Kremlin.

First to restore distribution in the Crimea. In 2014, after the annexation of the peninsula to the Russian army, the Ukrainians diverted the 400 km canal that fed it by building a dam, thus depriving it arid region of the essential ingredient for its agriculture.

85% of its freshwater supply depended on the canal. In February, two days after the start of his offensive, the Russians regained control of the dam and reopened the gates. The water is flowing again, as the inhabitants of Crimea have testified for several weeks.

The return of water to the Crimea was undoubtedly one of the reasons why Russia went to war.

We all have images or testimonies of those in mind Ukrainians forced to queue for some jerry cans of drinking water.

In eastern Ukraine, water cuts have mainly served to demoralize the population.

“Weapon of War”

The village of Mykolaiv was deprived of water for a month and even in Mariupol the last inhabitants suffered these deprivations due to the brutal and deliberate destruction of the structures.

Russian air strikes systematically target pipelines, water treatment plants and pumping stations. is approx a violation of international conventions.

Russia has turned water into a weapon of waras his opponents have denounced.

A strategy he has already experimented with on other battlefields. In Syria, for example, its air force bombed pumping stations. In Ukraine, the United Nations estimates that currently 1,400,000 inhabitants are without water and 4,500,000 are exposed to this risk.

Pollution

In industrial regions where the soil is already contaminated with chemical residues, water pollution is a collateral damage of the fighting.

In eastern Ukraine, residents of the city of Lisichansk boil water they collect from a spring far from their homes. A source of water that the inhabitants rediscover every time the country is at war.

It was providential in 2014, and during the Second World War, the oldest is remembered. Whoever maintains access to water protects it as much as possible.

In the Donbas region, today under the greatest Russian offensive, the canal built in the 1950s by the Soviets runs north to Mariupol.

It is the only resource for six million people in the region. In 2014, the system was shaken by war and fragmented between various Ukrainian and separatist administrations.

But since it has proved impossible to divide it in two, separatists and Ukrainians work together to manage it and serve the populations and industries that depend on it indiscriminately.

A fragile exception that could be in danger at any moment with new fights.

Source: RFI

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