An expert explained how vulnerable Ukraine's water supply is to attacks by Russia

Dmytro Novytskyi, chairman of the “Ukrvodokanalekologiya” association, spoke to “Shelter” about this for an article on the Bortnytska aeration plant.

He noted that providing backup power to cities with populations of over one million—for which conventional diesel generators are unsuitable—is a particularly challenging task. These cities require gas piston, gas turbine, and cogeneration units capable of generating sufficient amounts of electricity.

Novitsky emphasized that underground wastewater and water supply networks are extremely difficult to destroy with strikes, but other facilities require physical protection.

According to him, most enterprises have already implemented the first level of protection—gabions and shields—and are now moving on to the second level: protective nets against drones.

According to the association’s head, the government’s priority should be to establish a reserve fund for equipment. This refers to components that are custom-manufactured abroad over the course of several months.

“Having the right equipment to quickly restore operations, along with the necessary materials—that’s what needs to be done. I think this effort should be centralized: we need to compile a list of such equipment—powerful, high-cost, and heavy machinery. This must be ordered and procured so that it is available within Ukraine. And in the event of an emergency or the bombing of a particular facility, work must be carried out to restore that facility,” Novitsky added.

In early August, Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that Russia’s current goal is to destroy Ukraine’s water supply: “Last winter, they targeted the electricity supply and heating, but during power outages, it was still possible to survive if you had gas and water. Without water and sewage systems, it’s hard to survive longer than three days.”