Humanitarian Disaster: Ukraine to Supply Water to Crimea

Ukrainian authorities will allow water to be supplied to the annexed Crimea from the mainland to meet the needs of citizens if a humanitarian catastrophe takes place on the peninsula, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal reports in an interview to Radio Svoboda.

“If there is a need to provide people with water, in case of a humanitarian catastrophe, Ukraine is for sure to provide Ukrainians with water and everything they need, medicine, food, etc. anywhere, in the Crimea or elsewhere,” the Cabinet Head states.

Tellingly, he stressed that official Kyiv would not supply water for the needs of “occupiers, occupation troops, for the needs of military bases” of the Russian Federation located on the peninsula.

At the same time, according to Shmygal, the supply of Dnipro water to the Crimea is technically impossible now.

“The Crimean canal is blocked. Plenty of journalists’ investigations have confirmed that there was no possibility to supply water to Crimea today because of the actual infrastructure. It is necessary to invest funds and restore this infrastructure,” the Prime Minister of Ukraine stressed.

Refat Chubarov, leader of the Crimean Tatar national movement in Ukraine and worldwide, criticised the statement of Denis Schmygal: “Please, tell the Prime Minister that the humanitarian catastrophe in Crimea has lasted for six years already.”

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As was previously reported, residents of the village of Myrne, Simferopol region in the annexed Crimea remained without centralised water supply because of water well depletion. The occupying authorities imposed a state of emergency in the area.

Bohdan Marusyak