Russian Aggression

Occupied Donetsk’s drinking water crisis is so bad that Russia is now proposing heavy-metal-laced mine drainage as a substitute

Ukraine linked the pattern explicitly to officials’ interest in maintaining their posts and access to financial flows from Moscow, rather than solving the underlying crisis.

byYuri Zoria

02/04/2026

4 minute read

occupied donetsk's drinking water crisis so bad russia now proposing heavy-metal-laced drainage substitute · post dried-out bed khanzhenkovske reservoir krynka river donetsk oblast which ceased exist body 2025 ханжонківське водосховище

The dried-out bed of Khanzhenkovske reservoir on the Krynka River in Donetsk Oblast, which ceased to exist as a water body by July 2025. Photo: via Ukrinform

Occupied Donetsk’s drinking water crisis is so bad that Russia is now proposing heavy-metal-laced mine drainage as a substitute

The occupation administration of the Russian-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast has proposed using mine water to supply residents, claiming the plan as an "innovative" solution to the region's chronic drinking water shortage, Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation (CPD) reported on 1 April. The CPD assessed the proposal as a simulation of governance rather than a genuine fix, in line with a series of previously announced water supply solutions under occupation that were never built.

The water crisis began early in Russia’s full-scale invasion, when the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal infrastructure, which supplied 94% of potable water in the region — the main source of potable water for the city of Donetsk and much of the surrounding area — was damaged and later destroyed beyond repair. At the same time, in the course of 12 years of the occupation, most, and possibly all, of the region’s coal mines appear to have been neglected beyond recovery: their drainage systems stopped working, mine water flooded the shafts, and the contamination gradually spread to other water sources.

The proposal

So-called "first vice premier" of the Russian-run "Donetsk people's republic" Andrei Chertkov announced plans to use mine water for the population. The CPD noted the proposal was presented as an innovative approach to a crisis that has left residents without reliable drinking water for years.

Mine water in the Donbas contains heavy metals, salts, bacterial contaminants, and, in some cases, radioactive elements, the Center noted. Purification is theoretically possible but extremely expensive and technically complex — resources the occupation administration has never demonstrated it can deploy.

occupied donetsk's drinking water crisis so bad russia now proposing heavy-metal-laced drainage substitute · post destroyed pipes siverskyi donets–donbas canal main supply artery donetsk oblast riddled shell holes водопровідні труби — Destroyed pipes of the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas canal, the main water supply artery for occupied Donetsk Oblast, riddled with shell holes.
Photo: via Ukrinform

A pattern of unbuilt solutions

Similar proposals have been made before under Russian occupation, the Countering Disinformation Center says. None was implemented. The CPD assessed the pattern as serving a specific function: occupation officials simulate active governance to maintain their posts and preserve access to financial flows from Moscow, while residents' actual problems go unresolved.

occupied donetsk's drinking water crisis so bad russia now proposing heavy-metal-laced drainage substitute · post tap collected resident donetsk 2025 capture occupation administration russian-controlled part oblast has proposed using supply — Tap water collected by a resident of occupied Donetsk, April 2025. Photo: local social media groups

By the summer of 2025, residents of occupied Donetsk were receiving water once every three days for four hours, drinking water sold in shops cost twice the price in neighboring Rostov, reservoirs had dried to critical levels, and the Don–Donbas pipeline built by the occupation authorities to replace the destroyed canal could doesn't cover the daily demand — and the situation only worsened from there.

Donetsk residents queuing for water as Russian-installed occupation authorities fail to provide basic services. Photo: itsdonetsk Telegram channel, via RBC

Explore further

Russian occupiers tell Donetsk residents to drink toxic mine water as infrastructure collapses

Why mine water is dangerous

The hazards of Donbas mine water run deeper than contamination from decades-long industrial activity. Since 2014, occupation authorities flooded dozens of coal mines by simply shutting down pumping equipment without proper decommissioning — a process that changed water tables and contaminated local water bodies with heavy metals and other hazardous substances.

Water samples from Donbas mine reservoirs show lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and remnants of mononitrochlorobenzene — a highly toxic compound from Soviet-era industrial accidents. Even Russian environmental groups classify mine water as fit only for technical use.

Among the flooded mines is the Yunkom mine in Yenakiieve, where the Soviet Union conducted an underground nuclear explosion in 1979. Occupation authorities halted pumping there in 2018, raising the risk that radioactive material could enter groundwater.

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