<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/11/environmental-disaster-moldova-russia-ukraine-war-drinking-water>
"In the second week of March, the nature vlogger Ilie Cojocari went out to film
the arrival of spring on the Nistru (Dniester) river, 70 metres away from his
home in Naslavcea, a village bordering Ukraine on the northernmost point of
Moldova. But as he approached the river he could smell the stench of oil rising
up from the water and see dark spots floating on its surface. Something was
wrong.
Two days earlier, Russia had attacked Ukraine’s Novodnistrovsk hydropower
complex 15 miles upriver. Cojocari had been kept awake all night by the sound
of shelling. “No one slept in the [Moldovan] district of Ocniţa that night,” he
told me.
There was no official information from either the Ukrainian or Moldovan
governments on the oil spill into the river when Cojocari went filming along
its banks. But soon after posting his footage, he received calls from the
Chișinău ministry of the environment asking him to confirm that the footage was
real.
The next day, the ministry publicly announced that the water in Naslavcea was
being tested and that officials had asked Ukraine about the origin of the
spill. On 16 March, nine days after Russia attacked Ukraine’s hydropower
complex, Moldova declared an environmental alert, the president Maia Sandu laid
the blame squarely on Moscow.
A crisis centre was set up to monitor the spill and remove the pollutant. Oil
traps and barrages made from textiles and absorbent materials were erected, and
authorities provided people with alternative water supplies. But for many local
residents, this felt like more than just a contaminated water issue."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
