Professor Oleg Rubel sends the Village Voice eyewitness reports on conditions as he sees them in Ukraine, as Russian forces continue attacking civilian and military targets. Rubel reports that thousands in Ukraine are lacking access to adequate water resources, causing many to go without this crucial resource. Some are collecting rainwater and resorting to other similar measures to make up for the loss caused by Russia’s ongoing attack on the country.
“Among the countries of Europe, Ukraine is one of the least endowed with water resources—even in the best years, when approximately 1,000 cubic meters of water are available to the average Ukrainian, it is still almost 500 cubic meters under what the UN European Economic Commission recommends to avoid water insecurity,” writes Rubel. “Additionally, only 25% of settlements are provided with a centralized water supply. About 11 million citizens of Ukraine use water from wells, but, according to official Ukrainian data, 15% of those wells are contaminated.”
