Putin's promises fall short in annexed Ukraine: Water woes persist
Life in prosperity - that's what Vladimir Putin promised to the residents of Ukrainian cities and territories annexed by Russia. However, these promises did not materialize—the standard of living not only failed to improve but actually decreased. If anyone has benefited, it's likely members of the president's party, United Russia, who hold power in Donbas.
Since 2014, Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure. These actions, which intensified after the start of the full-scale war, aimed at a single goal—weakening Ukraine's ability to produce and distribute electricity and heat.
In eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin largely achieved its objective. It also showed that while destruction can be relatively easy, rebuilding is a struggle. This is evident in the occupied territories that were supposed to become a land flowing with milk and honey under Putin's rule.
There's no water, and there won't be for a long time
Russians—except for Crimea—are not investing in the lands occupied in recent years. Crimea was fortunate because it became a tool of Kremlin propaganda, leading to significant investment in tourism there. Meanwhile, the destruction during the invasion by "little green men" was not extensive.
Meanwhile, fierce battles took place over Donetsk, Luhansk, and Sokalhirsk's 40,000 residents, during which water supply installations and energy relay stations were destroyed. To this day, in those cities, people have to buy drinking water in stores or wait for irregular deliveries by water trucks.
Water is also delivered by trucks in Lysychansk, where the Russians have not managed to repair the water supply system for two years. In the case of Donetsk, the filtration station has not been rebuilt for ten years. The situation was significantly worsened by fighting near the 130-kilometre Donetsk-Donbas canal, which supplied water to nearly the entire Donbas. Along the canal, five backup reservoirs were created during construction to ensure its uninterrupted operation in case of failure. Now, they have become the only source of water in the occupied territory after the canal was destroyed.
Ironically, today only the pumping stations and water pipelines leading to Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, and Druzhkivka—which are under Ukrainian control—are operational. These installations might be able to supply water to occupied territories, but they cannot because the installations on the Russian side are not functioning.
Residents of occupied areas laugh through tears that the Russians have decided to adjust their standard of living to that of Russia. And it is not very high.
Donbas aligns with 19th-century living standards in Russia
The Kremlin officially reported that out of 53 million households in Russia, nearly 13 million don't have hot water. This translates to about 47 million Russians. Moreover, 20 million Russians have no access to running water at all, two-thirds lack a sewage system, and about 12 million families have outdoor toilets. In contrast, 200,000 do not have them at all.
Even in the largest cities. Only 72% of city residents have access to hot water, and over 5 million households lack a bathtub or shower.
Ownership of bathtubs, showers, and washing machines has improved in the last three years; however, access to basic civilizational amenities has remained at a similar level for decades. With that being said, it is increasing in cities and decreasing in villages. This is due to the growing degradation of municipal installations in small towns and villages.
The worst indicators are in the Caucasian, Central Asian, and Far Eastern regions, which are the poorest and most neglected by the central government.
"Bribery" like tea with preserves
The widespread corruption is also evident in the occupied territories. A good example of this is Mariupol. The quality of new apartment blocks, constructed during Russian times, is terrible. They started cracking just a year after being built. This is likely because there was no money for solid construction. It disappears somewhere between Moscow and Donbas.
The problem of corruption was known in almost all former Soviet republics. While the Balts have dealt with it very well, and Ukrainians are fighting it like Don Quixote against windmills, for Russians, "bribery" is an indispensable part of the lifestyle, like tea with preserves. That's why the construction of the giant water supply system running from the mouth of the Don River to the puppet Donetsk People's Republic drags on endlessly.
The cost of the project, like the water supply route itself, remains a mystery. Residents know nothing about it, nor do the local occupation authorities, nor the authorities of the Rostov region. Governor Vasily Golubev promised in 2021 that access to water would be "sometime in 2023." Meanwhile, water has not appeared in the taps in 2023, nor a year later. And it is still not there.
Now Golubev himself is also no longer there. On November 4, 2024, he announced his resignation, and the next day the Federal Security Service knocked on his door. His deputies were also arrested. Everyone was charged with "embezzlement of large sums of money and fraud."
This is the most notorious case in recent months, but not the only one, as both "big fish" like Golubev and smaller ones take bribes. In December, in the Belaya Kalitva district in the Rostov region, a road police inspector was arrested. Taking advantage of supply difficulties, he turned a blind eye to illegal transports heading to Donbas. He handled transactions in dollars. He was caught because he demanded $5,000 (CAD 7,250) from plainclothes officers. In May of the previous year, the mayor of the town of Yenakiyeve, occupied since 2014, was arrested. For leasing industrial buildings, he accepted the equivalent of 175,000 Canadian dollars.
Residents of Donbas write on social media that even if bribe-takers are caught, they still have no access to water, and power outages are longer than in regularly shelled Kyiv. The congratulations that investigators received—from Vladimir Putin on January 14—for "ensuring the security of Donbass and Novorossiya" probably did not improve people’s moods.
"I am convinced that you will continue to cultivate and develop the best traditions of investigator veterans and honourably perform your official duties," added the dictator, wishing the employees of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation more success.
The problem is that those most often arrested are those who have fallen out of favour with the authorities. Investigators very often turn a blind eye to the fraud of people closely associated with Kremlin's United Russia, who largely call the shots in Donbas.
