(CNN) A recent escalation of fighting in eastern Ukraine is threatening access to safe water and sanitation for more than 3 million people, including 500,000 children, UNICEF warned on Wednesday, calling for "an immediate end to the indiscriminate shelling of vital civilian infrastructure."

Since 2014, Ukrainian troops in the eastern Donbas region have been battling Russian-backed separatists in a bloody conflict that continues to take its toll on civilians.

This year alone, the fighting has either disrupted or entirely halted the water supply for 3.2 million people, the children's rights organization said in a new statement released Wednesday. Some families living near the disputed city of Donetsk have had no running water or electricity for months, even years, according to UNICEF.

Since the beginning of the year, fighting has damaged water and sanitation facilities nearly 60 times, escalating the threat of communicable diseases in an area where immunization rates are low. In 2018, water supply in eastern Ukraine was disrupted 89 times, UNICEF said in a report published in March.

Sofia's family living in eastern Ukraine is collecting water in bathtubs, UNICEF said.

Fighting also limits the possibility for essential repairs, UNICEF said, adding that dozens of workers at water facilities have been injured since the start of the conflict.

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