Russia is getting stronger for take control of the whole Donbass in eastern Ukraine, and achieve ” a land bridge with Crimea “, annexed by Moscow in 2014, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. Unlike Russian territory where the concrete military consequences of ” the special operation » are almost invisible, the Donbass, which has lived in recent years in a conflict of lower intensity, finds itself once again at stake and at the heart of the clashes, including in Donetsk.
At night, sometimes a missile that falls in a district of the city and replies with rocket attacks. During the day, a quest: that of water. It’s been weeks since the power station that supplies the city was hit by artillery fire and Donetsk is living on its rationed reserves.
” Here we are in the center, so the situation for the water supply is still the most correctsays a woman. We have time slots where it is distributed, but in more remote areas there has been no water at all for a few weeks. »
Difficult to shower or do laundry, but the most crucial thing is of course the search for drinking water. Everyone is on the lookout for the best place to get supplies. “We talk about it with the neighbours, on the internet, on the phone. Everyone is in close contact,” said another resident of the city.
Soaring water prices
In front of her, five people in the queue, many of whom come from afar, sometimes almost 10 kilometers to fill two 5-liter cans. ” How long do I take to come? Well, if you use public transport, it takes a long time because there are transport problems, explains one of them. And people sometimes have to take two or three different buses. A few weeks ago, some even came on foot. Until now, we used to have companies that provided drinking water. But many have stopped deliveries. Because the men were conscripted to go to the front. »
The price of drinking water, in a few weeks, has almost tripled.
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