Events ČT: "If everything goes well, water will flow like before the war," says Šimon Pánek about our aid to Ukraine
Published: Feb 12, 2024 Reading time: 2 minutes
The old water reservoir in Novopetrivka suffered significant artillery damage from invading Russians a year and a half ago. Now, thanks to our help, under the watchful eye of the locals, it will be razed so they can rebuild and regain vital access to clean water.
A small village in southern Ukraine has been struggling with a shortage of drinking water since the invasion began. Their local water reservoir supplied hundreds of families and has not been operational since a Russian attack.
The water will flow as it did before the war
"For me, it's nice to see these things in concrete terms rather than just reading about them, not just seeing the tables containing huge numbers, those numbers of people who we have helped. If everything goes well, the water will flow as it did before the war," Šimon Pánek says about the situation in Novopetrivka on Czech Television’s Events. The funds to build the new reservoir came from Czech donors.
However, the water reservoir will only provide water for utilities. The locals still depend on weekly humanitarian aid to receive clean bottled water for drinking and cooking.
Preparations for a purification plant
"The water quality must improve, so we will build a purification plant here. Our organisation is very dedicated to this project," adds Alyona Budagovska, media coordinator of our Ukrainian mission.
Novopetrivka has been under Russian occupation for eight months. The lack of water is not the only thing that worries the locals – they live with destroyed infrastructure, ruins of houses everywhere, and Russian soldiers have laid mines around the village.
"It's been tough. A lot of people have died," says Valentyna Vasilyivna Kasapova, the mayor of Novopetrivka, whose husband was murdered by the occupying Russian forces. She found him buried in the ground a month after the liberation of their village.
Despite two years of Russian aggression, Valentina still believes that peace will return to her home, as well as the desperately missing water.
Thank you to Czech Television for sharing this report from Ukraine.
