Kiev, Ukraine. While most of the slavic world celebrates Easter in quiet reflection, a storm warning is announced by the OSCE and is buried in the background noise of Syria and North Korea, but it is clear, Donbass is at risk of a major loss of life and environmental disaster from continued shelling of the Donetsk water plant by Kiev forces.
The grim news was broadcast only to the hum of video recording gear at the press conference. The Donetsk water filtering station must stop being a priority target of opportunity for Ukraine’s bombing campaign in Donbass, so was the word from OSCE observers based in Kiev, Ukraine.
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has said the Donetsk Filtering Station has been shelled over 200 times since the beginning of 2017. Donetsk water plant contains a large storage area of dangerous chemicals for processing water for human consumption, if hit by explosives a real disaster would occur.
Speaking at the press conference on Friday in Kiev, OSCE SMM Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said the SMM has attracted significant priority by the Ukrainian armed forces trying to destroy the Donetsk Filtering Station in Yasynuvata.
The station, as well as the nearby power lines, which provide drinking water and electricity, have been shelled than 200 times since the beginning of the year and in eight cases this led to breakdown of power lines and blackouts of power to the station for a total of 38 days. Donetsk and surrounding areas have gone without water as a result of the attacks for days at a time, Hug added.
According to him, direct hits of artillery projectiles at the filtering station could lead to an ecological disaster, if a projectile hits for instance the chlorine tank at one of the filtering stations. OSCE monitor Hug added that the observers are trying to obtain security guarantees from the Ukrainian Armed Forces so that the DNR repair crews can function normally and repair the damage done by Kiev forces.