Three hundred villages in northern Crimea have been left not only without electricity and water, but also without food. The occupying authorities are carefully concealing this information. But CEMAAT sources describe the situation as catastrophic. The true scale of the disaster can also be gauged from posts in pro-Russian volunteer groups and the aid packages they are delivering to settlements around Dzhankoy, Ermeni Bazaar (Armyansk), and Yanı Qapu (Krasnoperekopsk).

Northern Crimea has never attracted either Russians or residents of other parts of the peninsula. For the most part, the area is home to elderly farmers and former workers at large chemical plants whose operations were halted by the war. In total, there are approximately 300,000 people whom the occupiers have forgotten. Most villages in this region have been without electricity for two weeks now. The water supply has been cut off for about the same amount of time, since it is delivered via pumping stations. Drinking water reaches the villages only thanks to volunteers. It is the most sought-after commodity, and residents line up to receive 10–20 liters in plastic bottles. 

Water distribution to residents of northern Crimea (photo from a volunteer group's public page)

Even the only hospital in Armyansk relies on volunteers to deliver water. The authorities have stepped back from addressing this issue. Instead of tanker trucks capable of delivering several metric tons of water at a time, the hospital receives just a few pallets of bottled water.

Unloading water at the hospital in Armyansk (photo from a volunteer group's public page)

The situation with food isn’t any better. People have long since forgotten what hot food tastes like. There’s simply nothing to cook it with: the villages have neither electricity nor gas cylinders. Volunteers are collecting canned goods, non-perishable foods, and grains that can be prepared by soaking them in cold water for a few hours.

Screenshot of a post calling for donations from a volunteer group 

There are things volunteers don’t dare to write about publicly: outbreaks of disease caused by unsanitary conditions. Meanwhile, the water shortage on the peninsula is spreading: Bakhchisaray, Kerch, Yevpatoria, Feodosia, and Saki have been cut off from the water supply. And the entire southern coast, from Alushta to Foros, is once again without electricity.