MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Around 80% of equipment at Ukraine’s Zmievka and Tripolye thermal power plants have been destroyed, work to remove the debris still continues at these facilities, said Yevgeny Garkavy, the technical director of Ukrainian electric and thermal power generation company Centrenergo.

"Practically 80% of our structures were damaged. <...>. Expensive equipment was destroyed," he told the Kiev 24 television. "Not only is it expensive, but is also long in the making."

He described the damage as "critical."

"We expect the debris removal to continue for a month and a half or two months," he added.

The official said that his company was closely cooperating with Baltic states and other EU countries to obtain power generators and transformers.

Centrenergo had two thermal power plants in its management - Zmievka and Tripolye. The Tripolye power plant, located near an eponymous settlement around 45 km south of the capital Kiev, was the largest power generation facility in the Kiev region with the capacity of 1,800 MVt and a major electricity supplier for the regions of Kiev, Zhitomir and Cherkasy.

On April 11, the Ukrainian energy ministry said the Tripolye NPP was completely destroyed. Therefore, Centrenergo lost 100% of its power generation capacities.