The situation is a ticking time bomb. Because the divided communities are geographically very close, an incident on one side of the line of contact will have an impact on people living on the other side — and beyond.
For example, earlier this year shelling hit a building at the Donetsk Filter Station, where 7,000 kilograms of chlorine gas is stored. Had it exploded, the damage would have been catastrophic. [...]
Despite the Minsk agreements that were meant to stabilize the situation, heavy weapons and ammunition continue to move into the region, and mines are being laid. Since the beginning of the year, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine has confirmed 347 civilian casualties: 64 killed, and 283 injured — an increase of more than 30 percent compared to the same period last year. [...]
If chemicals released by a misaimed shell were to leak into rivers or groundwater, hundreds of thousands of people would be affected. The flooding of coal mines has the potential to contaminate the water supply and devastate agriculture — even in neighboring Russia. [...]
In recent weeks, water treatment plants and pumping stations have been hit repeatedly near the line of contact. Over 1 million people in communities on both sides of the line are dependent on the South Donbas Water Pipeline — including almost half a million downstream in Mariupol. Their water supply is at risk, and temperatures remain high.
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