Water crisis Deepens in Russian-Occupied Donetsk as Officials Eye Slovenian Supply
Donetsk, Ukraine – Residents in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk region face a worsening water crisis, prompting separatist leader Denis Pushilin to propose a controversial solution: diverting water from Slovenia. The proposal highlights the long-standing and escalating water shortages plaguing the region, a problem exacerbated by conflict and infrastructure neglect.
The current difficulties echo a 2014 attempt by pro-Russian separatists, led by former FSB officer Igor Girkin, to seize control of the entire donetsk region.While Ukrainian forces liberated parts of the occupied territory in the summer of 2014,Russian-backed militants maintained control over cities like luhansk and Donetsk.
Unlike Crimea,where Ukraine cut off water access following the 2014 annexation,Kyiv continued to allow water from the Siverian Donets River to flow into occupied areas until 2022,as the river supplied water to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Mariupol.
Prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Donetsk Filter Station operated as a relatively neutral site, accessible to observers from the Association for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and personnel from the Ukrainian-Russian Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), established in 2015 under the Minsk Agreements. Though, the channel frequently came under fire.
In 2021, occupation authorities signaled an intent to modernize the region’s water infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly pledged approximately 30 billion hryvnia (roughly €500 million) towards the project. These plans were abandoned following the February 2022 invasion, leaving critical repairs and upgrades unaddressed. The conflict directly impacted both the canal itself and the planned modernization of aging pipes, a problem dating back to the 1990s.