UNICEF: 750,000 children in Donbas could be cut off from drinking water
Almost 750,000 children in Eastern Ukraine could be cut off from clean drinking water as a result of military actions in areas where important facilities of civil infrastructure are located, a representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said, as reported by the UN News Center.
“Nearly 3 million people in eastern Ukraine rely on water infrastructure that is now in the line of fire. We expect more families will be cut off from safe drinking water, putting children at severe risk of disease,” said Afshan Khan, regional director of UNICEF for Europe and Central Asia.
This week, due to an escalation in the armed encounters and bombardment, two water purification plants for treating the water of the Southern Donbas water pipeline were damaged. As a result, roughly 400,000 people including 104,000 children on either side of the line of contact were deprived of access to safe drinking water for four days.
UNICEF called on both sides of the conflict to ensure the safety of facilities of civil infrastructure and to facilitate the quick restoration of damaged water transit systems.
It was reported earlier that the Pokrovsk, Marinka, Volnovakha, and Dobropole regions and the towns under the responsibility of the Selydove city council in the Donetsk region are connected to the centralized water supply.
On June 15, the pumping station of the Southern Donbas water pipeline, which stopped operating due to shelling by the separatists on June 8, resumed normal operation.