After several days of interruptions due to pollution of the Dniester River, the supply of water was resumed in the municipality of Balti and the districts of Soroca, Singerei and Florești in northern part of Moldova, the government of Moldova announced on March 20, five days after declaring a state of environmental alert to address “the continuous wave of pollution with petroleum products” on the main country’s main source of water.

Based on information provided by Ukraine, where the river’s contamination took place, Moldova officially accused Russia of causing the environmental incident, allegations that the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Chisinau rejected.

Romania and the European Union provided technical assistance and humanitarian aid by sending drinking water to the population and absorbing materials to extract the petroleum products from the Dniester.

The Dniester River is of strategic importance to the Republic of Moldova, as it supplies water to approximately 80% of the country's population and 98% of Chisinau's, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chisinau. 

Besides an environmental incident, the leaks in the Dniester River prompted the reactivation of pro-Russian propaganda channels developed during past electoral campaigns, according to StopFals.md, a fact-checking platform. Hoaxes such as one about a Ukrainian truck carrying petroleum products that fell into the Dniester from a bridge have been circulated. Actors aligned with Russia presented the pollution on the Dniester as a Ukrainian and/or Moldovan failure and often ridiculed the version that Russia caused the pollution.

Propaganda was built on half-truths, such as the authorities' failure to identify the source of the water contamination clearly. The source of contamination, most frequently identified by Moldovan authorities, based on a press release from the Ministry of Environment in Kyiv as “a leak of rocket fuel in the area of the Dniester Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Chernivtsi region, which occurred as a result of the Russian attack on March 7, 2026” can hardly explain the large amount of petroleum products estimated by Moldovan Minister of Environment Gheorghe Hajder at “tens of times more than the 1.5 tonnes initially estimated” according to Moldova 1 TV station. This would mean tens of tonnes of petroleum products.

"The latest official information from the Ukrainian side spoke of approximately 1.5 tonnes of petroleum products. However, from discussions with specialists from the Republic of Moldova and Romania, we estimate that the volume could be much larger, even tens of times larger," the minister said during a TVR Moldova broadcast on March 16.

The sole public release about the incident, issued by Ukraine’s Ministry of Environment on March 12, describes events reportedly initiated by the Russian attack on March 7 in the area of the Dniester Hydroelectric Power Plant. Besides the leak of rocket fuel, the release mentions  “the leakage of technical oils into the Dniester,” apparently originating from the hydropower plant hit by the Russian missiles.

“The expectations were that the Moldovan side would have been notified earlier about this type of pollution,” according to environmental expert Ana Jeleapov, cited by the environmental publication EcoPresa, investigating the developments.

The situation that has now been created on the Dniester River, pollution with petroleum products, as a result of the attack on the Dniester Hydropower Complex, occurred in early spring, when there is no active vegetation and when fish have not laid eggs, respectively. The effect of the pollution will not be as drastic as it would have been if the situation occurred during the active vegetation period, in the summer, the publication commented.

“At the moment, the official position of the Ukrainian side is that the pollution occurred due to fuel leaks from the missiles that attacked the Dniester Hydropower Complex,” EcoPresa reported.

“Accordingly, at the moment, this is the information that we have, and we are waiting for laboratory results, including those from Romania, which will show us more specifically what the main pollutants are in the Dniester.”

The analysis of the polluted water has yielded little insight so far. "Four chemical compounds are present in all the samples: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. All four are derivatives of light petroleum products, namely gasoline and diesel … The stains are rainbow-coloured, so they are clearly light products. In addition, the chromatographic expertise demonstrated metals from the C12-C20 class, which proves once again that they are light metals," according to the director of the Environmental Agency, Nicu Belitei, quoted by NewsMaker on March 20. Neither Belitei nor Environment Minister Gheorghe Hajder, who attended the press conference, commented on the analysis's implications for the source of the leaks.

The Ambassador-at-large of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova, Oleg Ozerov, rejected the local authorities’ claims about his country’s responsibility for the contamination of the Dniester River.

“Conflicting theories about rocket fuel, transformer oil, and other sources allegedly leaking into the river are being voiced, even though, according to official statements, more than ten days have passed since the alleged accident,” according to Ozerov’s post on Telegram.