Water Supply Crisis in Occupied Berdyansk Worsens in 2025

“Everything is bad”: water-supply problems in occupied Berdyansk. What is known.

In the temporarily occupied Berdyansk in Zaporizhzhia region, the city’s water supply has become a systemic challenge: the occupation authorities promise to resolve the situation, but actions are lacking.

“In Berdyansk everything is bad. There is no water. The Berdyansk reservoir is shrinking, and soon Berdyansk will repeat the fate of Mariupol, and then Donetsk. There is no water because there is physically nowhere to take it from. They promise to solve this problem for the third year already. And they are doing nothing. Therefore the water problem in Berdyansk will grow. This is unequivocal”

According to experts and local administration, water outages have become a systemic phenomenon. In 2025 the city experienced dozens of outages; the latest was recorded at the beginning of September.

In the context of the crisis, the authorities appear to be focusing on propaganda: a television tower is being built for Russian television and information broadcasting, which amplifies ideological influence before the problems with water and electricity supply are resolved.

“So it can be concluded that the occupiers prioritize propaganda and television over the problems with water and electricity. Ideological influence above all”

According to Berdyansk City Military Administration, water-supply outages have become systemic. Throughout 2025 the city experienced several dozen outages, including the latest at the beginning of September; cases of increased water hardness and bursts along sections of the water mains have also been reported, intensifying the crisis.

Consequences for residents and infrastructure

Constant interruptions to the water supply have affected residents’ daily lives, creating serious difficulties in households and in the city’s healthcare system. Meanwhile the occupation authorities do not demonstrate concrete steps to restore stable supply, which deepens social tension and distrust in crisis management.

Residents of Berdyansk are seeking temporary solutions – conserving water resources, collecting rainwater, and using backup sources. However, full restoration of a stable water supply will require coordination between the occupation structures and international institutions, which has not yet been observed.

Given the scale of the problem, the water-supply crisis requires a systematic approach and transparent monitoring of the status of water supply to prevent further deterioration of residents’ lives and a decline in the city’s infrastructural resilience.