Since the fighting near the front in April disabled a pipeline, directly cutting off access to water, the inhabitants have been walking, driving or cycling in search of tanker trucks, in this city located a few kilometers from the territories controlled by the Russian army. Her husband being bedridden, Anna Bondar, 79, spends two to three hours a day bringing water home. “I’m very tired,” she admits.
“I have a family of four. Can you imagine how much water we need for washing, for cooking, for making tea? asks Valeriï Barichev, a 27-year-old baker, attaching cans of drinking water to the back of his bike. “I have to fetch about 120 liters a day,” he explains, when he counts the water also necessary for his professional activity. The city’s military officials estimate that it will take “at least another month” before access to tap water is restored.