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Russia Targets Kyiv's Only Wastewater Treatment Plant to Trigger Humanitarian Crisis, Analyst Says
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Russian forces have targeted the Bortnychi Aeration Station, Kyiv's only wastewater treatment facility, in what appears to be a deliberate effort to create a humanitarian crisis, according to Viktor Taran, head of the Eidos Center analytical organization.
In a statement published via Facebook on August 5, Taran said the facility has come under repeated ballistic missile attacks over the past year, describing the strikes as part of a systematic campaign against a single piece of critical infrastructure.
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“The Russians have once again struck the Bortnychi Aeration Station with ballistic missiles. Over the past year, this is another attack that demonstrates a methodical effort against the same target. The Bortnychi station is the only wastewater treatment facility serving Kyiv and nearby cities and towns in the region,” he wrote.
The Bortnychi Aeration Station has a design capacity of approximately 1.8 million cubic meters of wastewater per day, while its actual daily load ranges between 600,000 and 900,000 cubic meters. According to Taran, there is no backup system capable of replacing its operations.
He noted that while the facility itself is difficult to destroy outright, its critical vulnerabilities lie in its power supply, electrical distribution systems, pumping stations, and control infrastructure, which have repeatedly been the focus of Russian strikes.
“The station is not a reservoir but a continuous technological process that depends on pumping and aeration. It is enough to deprive it of power for several days, and the biological treatment process dies together with the activated sludge, after which recovery takes weeks even if the structures themselves remain intact,” he said.
If the treatment process were to fail, untreated wastewater could be discharged into the Dnipro River, which serves as a source of drinking water for cities including Cherkasy, Kremenchuk, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and others downstream.
He warned that such a scenario could increase the risk of outbreaks of hepatitis A, dysentery, and other intestinal infections, potentially turning a utility failure into a nationwide humanitarian emergency.
According to Taran, a direct hit on the facility’s most vulnerable systems could have consequences that are difficult to fully assess, while replacing infrastructure of this scale would take decades.
"After targeting the energy sector, gas production facilities, and water utilities, the Russians have moved on to destroying the next level of life-support infrastructure. They are counting not on military gains but on forcing people out of the city and creating a humanitarian crisis deep in the rear," he said.
At the same time, he acknowledged that no country is capable of fully shielding every critical infrastructure facility from ballistic missile attacks, saying that disrupting Russian missile launch sites, production, and logistics remains essential.
“The station is indeed difficult to disable with the first, second, or even third or fifth strike. But this cannot continue indefinitely. Building our defense on the hope that the next missile will miss again is the worst possible plan,” he said.
Overnight on August 5, Russia launched a large-scale attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region, killing 17 people and injuring 44 as 24 ballistic missiles and 115 drones targeted civilian businesses, logistics facilities, and railway infrastructure.
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