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As summer wanes, water crisis looms for east Ukrainian city

Ida Svystunova, 89, looks out the damaged room adjoining her apartment from a May rocket attack in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Svystunova is one of only four people left living in the block and spends most of her day looking out the window. "I sit and wait for the end of this war or maybe the end of ourselves," she said. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A bicyclist and a stray dog move past a damaged apartment building from a May rocket attack in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. The echo of artillery shells thundering in the distance mingles with the din of people gathered around Sloviansk's public water pumps, piercing the uneasy quiet that smothers the nearly deserted streets of this eastern Ukrainian city. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A resident carries water from a well down a road damaged by shrapnel from a May rocket attack in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. The echo of artillery shells thundering in the distance mingles with the din of people gathered around Sloviansk's public water pumps, piercing the uneasy quiet that smothers the nearly deserted streets of this eastern Ukrainian city. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Ida Svystunova, 89, looks out the damaged room adjoining her apartment from a May rocket attack in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Svystunova is one of only four people left living in the block and spends most of her day looking out the window. "I sit and wait for the end of this war or maybe the end of ourselves," she said. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Ida Svystunova, 89, carries a bowl of soup to heat up on an electric plate in her damaged apartment from a May rocket attack in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Her son, Oleksandr, 69, brings her food and water daily as the city hasn't had running water in months. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Ida Svystunova, 89, looks out the damaged room adjoining her apartment from a May rocket attack in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Svystunova was sleeping in her back room when the rocket went off out front. One soldier was killed and one injured in the room and another woman was killed elsewhere in the building. She is one of only four people left living in the block. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A bicyclist and a stray dog move past a damaged apartment building from a May rocket attack in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. The echo of artillery shells thundering in the distance mingles with the din of people gathered around Sloviansk's public water pumps, piercing the uneasy quiet that smothers the nearly deserted streets of this eastern Ukrainian city. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Residents carry water collected at a nearby well while walking past the charred remains of a car from a May rocket attack in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. The echo of artillery shells thundering in the distance mingles with the din of people gathered around Sloviansk's public water pumps, piercing the uneasy quiet that smothers the nearly deserted streets of this eastern Ukrainian city. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A taxi drives down a road damaged by shrapnel from a May rocket attack in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. The echo of artillery shells thundering in the distance mingles with the din of people gathered around Sloviansk's public water pumps, piercing the uneasy quiet that smothers the nearly deserted streets of this eastern Ukrainian city. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A couple embrace after cooling off in a lake in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. While the city's remaining population has adapted to a new way of life without running water, local officials warn that the coming of winter could set the stage for a humanitarian crisis. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Lyubov Mahlii, 76, whistles to two canaries she shares her apartment with in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Despite a mandatory evacuation order and the terror that accompanies the shriek of falling rockets, with no money to relocate and nowhere to go, Mahlii plans to stay in Sloviansk, no matter what. "I don't want to leave my apartment because someone else might occupy it," she said. "I don't want to leave, I will die here." (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Lyubov Mahlii, 76, takes water stored in pots to use for cooking in her apartment in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Mahlii said she boils some water for at least 15 minutes to make sure it's safe for consumption. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Lyubov Mahlii, 76, pulls a crate of water bottles up the stairs to her fifth floor apartment after filling them up at a nearby park in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. Mahlii said that she doesn't have the money to relocate to a safer place, and that if she did, she wouldn't have anywhere to go. She hasn't made plans for what she'll do once cold weather arrives, but after 47 years in her apartment, she will face whatever comes from her home. "We are surviving!" she said. "We are surviving by any means." (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Lyubov Mahlii, 76, packs a crate with water bottles she filled up at a public tank to take back to her apartment in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. "When there are bombings and sirens, we keep carrying it," she said. "It's a great risk for us, but what can we do?" (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Residents gather to pump water from a well outside an apartment complex in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. Only a fifth of the city's pre-invasion population of 100,000 remains. With heavy fighting raging only miles away residents defy the shelling to make do with the only water source left. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Residents gather to pump water from a well outside an apartment complex in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces near the key city has damaged vital infrastructure that has cut residents off from gas and water for months. The water continues to flow for now, but fears grow that, come winter, the city only seven miles (12 kilometers) from Russian-occupied territory could face a humanitarian crisis once the pipes begin to freeze over. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A resident pumps water from a well outside an apartment complex in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. The members of Sloviansk's dwindling population only emerge, a few minutes at a time, to fill up at the pumps that have been the city's only water source for more than two months. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A curtain hangs in the apartment window belonging to Lyubov Mahlii, 76, in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. Following the death of her husband, Nikolai, from diabetes four years ago, Mahlii shares her Soviet government-provided apartment with two bright yellow canaries and an assortment of houseplants. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Lyubov Mahlii, 76, reaches for a photo of her late husband, Nikolai, in her apartment in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. Following the death of her husband from diabetes four years ago, Mahlii shares her Soviet government-provided apartment with two bright yellow canaries and an assortment of houseplants. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Lyubov Mahlii, 76, washes towels in her bathtub with water dragged up four flights of stairs from a public well nearby at her apartment in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Water she had gathered filled the plastic tubs and buckets stacked on every flat surface in her small bathroom, while empty plastic bottles lined the walls in her hallway. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Lyubov Mahlii wipes away sweat after dragging a crate of water bottles up the stairs to her fifth floor apartment in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. The 76-year-old widow gathers 20 liters (5.3 gallons) of water twice a day from a public tank near her apartment. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Lyubov Mahlii, 76, pulls a crate of water bottles up the stairs to her fifth floor apartment after filling them up at a nearby park in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. A lack of running water in the city means that residents must fill bottles by hand at public pumps. While the remaining population has adapted to this new way of life, local officials warn that the coming of winter could set the stage for a humanitarian crisis. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

As summer wanes, water crisis looms for east Ukrainian city