Water Weaponization: Its Forms, Its Use in the Russia-Ukraine War, and What to Do About It

The document defines water weaponization as the exploitation of the human need for water by deliberately rendering it scarce or insecure. It applies a six-category matrix—Strategic, Tactical, Coercive, Unintentional, Psychological Terror, and Extortion/Incentivization—to the Russia-Ukraine war. Key findings include Russia's draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir, which threatens the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power station, and the use of water denial in cities like Mariupol and Mykolaiv. Ukraine is also noted for strategic water denial in Crimea (2014) and tactical flooding in the Demydiv region. The authors argue for the expansion of U.S. climate finance for water adaptation, the use of the International Court of Justice to prosecute water infrastructure destruction as war crimes, and the integration of water management into the Global Fragility Act.

• Water weaponization is defined as the "exploitation of the human need for water, by deliberately rendering it scarce and/ or insecure," and is often characterized by compounding effects where one type of weaponization drives instability across other categories.
• Russia has engaged in strategic water weaponization by deliberately draining the Kakhovka Reservoir in late 2022, which may hinder Ukrainian agriculture and troop movements and risks a nuclear meltdown at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power station if water levels drop below 13.2 meters.
• Tactical water weaponization has been used by both sides: Russia launched missiles in October 2022 that left 40% of Kyiv residents without water, and Ukraine intentionally released water in the Demydiv region to disrupt Russian troop mobility toward Kyiv.
• Russia has used water denial as an instrument of psychological terror, specifically by shutting off the water supply during the siege of Mariupol and destroying the water pipeline to Mykolaiv.
• Ukraine employed strategic water weaponization in 2014 by constructing a dam on the North Crimean Canal to eliminate water access to the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula.
• The Russian invasion has caused an estimated $1.6 billion in damage to Ukrainian water resources, which may hinder Russia's ability to administer captured territories.
• To combat water weaponization, the authors recommend that the U.S. explicitly forbid the destruction of civilian water infrastructure in military doctrine and expand climate finance for water adaptation projects in vulnerable states.
• The document suggests that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should be used to prosecute the deliberate destruction of water facilities as war crimes, citing the precedent of the arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.

APA

King, M., & Hardy, E. (2023). Water Weaponization: Its Forms, Its Use in the Russia-Ukraine War, and What to Do About It. The Council on Strategic Risks. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2023/06/01/water-weaponization-its-forms-its-use-in-the-russia-ukraine-war-and-what-to-do-about-it/

Chicago

King, Marcus, and Emily Hardy. Water Weaponization: Its Forms, Its Use in the Russia-Ukraine War, and What to Do About It. The Council on Strategic Risks, 2023. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2023/06/01/water-weaponization-its-forms-its-use-in-the-russia-ukraine-war-and-what-to-do-about-it/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=King |first1=Marcus |last2=Hardy |first2=Emily |title=Water Weaponization: Its Forms, Its Use in the Russia-Ukraine War, and What to Do About It |publisher=The Council on Strategic Risks |date=1 June 2023 |url=https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2023/06/01/water-weaponization-its-forms-its-use-in-the-russia-ukraine-war-and-what-to-do-about-it/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{king2023water, author = {King, Marcus and Hardy, Emily}, title = {{Water Weaponization: Its Forms, Its Use in the Russia-Ukraine War, and What to Do About It}}, institution = {The Council on Strategic Risks}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2023/06/01/water-weaponization-its-forms-its-use-in-the-russia-ukraine-war-and-what-to-do-about-it/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }