LPR says it's been almost 3 weeks since Kyiv stopped supplying water to self-proclaimed republic's territory
LUHANSK. May 23 (Interfax) - Ukraine has not been supplying water to the territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic for almost three weeks now, the press service for Luhanskvoda (Luhanskwater), an enterprise controlled by the LPR government, said.
"The Ukrainian side has not been supplying water to the territory of the republic for almost three weeks now," Luhanskvoda said in a statement.
"The Petrovska pumping station stopped supplying water to the LPR back on March 6 and the Zahidna water purification plant on May 5," Luhanskvoda said.
Luhanskvoda director Alexander Avershin said earlier that after Kyiv cut off water supplies, all the towns and other populated areas in the LPR are being provided with water thanks to the water intakes operating in the territory of the self-proclaimed republic.
"Due to this, we are undergoing a certain shortage in the quantities of extracted and distributed water and the deficit is almost 30%," Avershin said.
The press service for Ukraine's electricity provider Luhansk Energy Association LLC (LEA) warned that starting on May 23 it was planning to cut off electrical power supplies to the Zahidna water purification plant, which is located in Lysychansk and controlled by the communal company of Popasna Vodokanal (Popasna Water Canal). This is the water treatment plant via which water is supplied to some Luhansk region areas not controlled by Kyiv. LEA cited a default on payments in the amount of more than 142 million hryvni (almost $5.4 million) when announcing its plans on cutting off electricity supplies.