Since the Russian forces are concentrating on the Donbass, the region has suffered many shortages. Water, electricity, petrol… Many Ukrainians are struggling to obtain the minimum to survive.
With our special correspondents in Sloviansk, Clea Broadhurst and Julien Boileau
While people sometimes queue for hours outside gas stations in the Donbass, Daniil started reselling diesel on the black market.
There are oil deliveries from time to time, but the queues are big. Sometimes there is not enough for everyone. And in addition, we have power cuts too… Sometimes several times a day, sometimes for whole days.
For several weeks, power cuts have paralyzed the region. Tatiana now runs her store in the dark.
It’s been two months! And we don’t know when it will come back. To charge our cell phones, we’re going to use the military generator. We’re in the dark, that’s how we work. The refrigerator doesn’t work anymore, so we can’t sell ice cream, meat or sausages… We can only have things that people buy during the day.
Another big problem, especially with the sweltering heat in the Donbass, is the shortage of water. Iryna struggles to find any, but her neighbors tell her about a makeshift well between four buildings.
There has been no water for two weeks. I can only take 15 liters at a time, twice a day. It’s very difficult because we can’t wash our clothes, we can’t take a shower, we take a little water to do the minimum, as best we can. It’s really difficult.
The Ukrainians fear that this situation will only worsen as the Russians advance in the region.
