THOUSANDS are without water in the Donetsk region of Ukraine as the Kiev government’s armed forces continue to breach a 2016 ceasefire agreement despite the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) warned of an unfolding humanitarian crisis with the water supply for at least 1,500 people in Elenkova and Molodyezhoyne cut off after Ukrainian shellfire damaged pipes.

It said that such actions were war crimes and an attempted genocide being waged by the Ukrainian armed forces.

Kiev is accused of ignoring DPR requests for clearance to fix the water pipes for the past two months.

“Ukrainian forces keep shelling the DPR territory despite public calls for peace in connection with the Covid-19 situation.

“They keep impeding the repairs and functioning of important civilian infrastructure.

“We consider such actions to be crimes against humanity and an attempted genocide of the civilian population by creating conditions for the spread of dangerous infections,” a DPR statement said.

The DPR Health Ministry reported 11 news cases of coronavirus yesterday, bringing the total infected to 89. Of those, 79 are in hospital while nine have fully recovered, with two people dying after contracting Covid-19.

But the region remains volatile as Ukrainian forces continue to violate the terms of the 2016 ceasefire agreement negotiated in a bid to find a political solution to the Donbass conflict.

“Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian armed formations violated the ceasefire 11 times, expending 89 rounds of ammunition,” the DPR’s Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination reported yesterday.

The DPR declared independence from Ukraine in 2014 alongside the Lugansk People’s Republic and the Republic of Crimea, the latter being established as a federal subject of Russia following military annexation and a referendum.

The conflict erupted after the 2013-14 Euromaidan coup, when a movement backed by the EU and the US ousted President Viktor Yanukovych after he rejected an EU trade deal.