SOCHI, June 9. /TASS/. The dam collapse at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) will not affect the supply of water to Crimea, as all of the region’s reservoirs are currently at full capacity and water reserves will suffice for nearly 18 months, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin told reporters on Friday.
"The situation resulting from the collapse of structures at the Kakhovka HPP will not affect the water supply in Crimea. <...> At the moment, all reservoirs in Crimea are at full capacity. Reserves of fresh water will last for at least 500 days," he said.
Khusnullin explained that Crimea has achieved self-sufficiency in water supplies over the past two years thanks to the construction of additional canals between the reservoirs and the use of subsoil water resources.
The official also added that the authorities are now working out various options for supporting agricultural producers who depend on a functioning North Crimean Canal. The experience of Crimea, including the potential offered by subsoil water resources, will be used to devise ways for supplying water to the other new regions of the Russian Federation. "We will not leave anyone without water," Khusnullin promised.
In the early morning hours of June 6, Ukrainian forces delivered a strike on the Kakhovka HPP, presumably from an Olkha multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). The shelling destroyed the hydraulic sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. There are currently 35 communities in the flood zone; residents of nearby towns and villages are being evacuated. The collapse of the hydro plant's dam has caused serious environmental damage, with farmland along the Dnieper River being washed away and a heightened risk that water levels in the North Crimean Canal will become unsustainably low.