Water supply restored in Donbas' Avdiivka after four-day break
KYIV. March 17 (Interfax) - Water supply in Avdiivka, Donetsk region, has been restored, according to Pavlo Zhebrivskyi, head of the Donetsk region military and civilian administration.
"Water is being supplied to Avdiivka," he wrote on Facebook.
In his words, the militia agreed to let workers inside the Donetsk filtering station after a visit from Alexander Hug, Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine.
He also said that the repairs had been impossible under gunfire.
"Tap water service was not available in Avdiivka for four days. The first two days shelling incidents were witnessed, and personnel rightfully refused to work because they feared for their lives. No shelling incidents happened during the next two days," Zhebrivskyi said. The Ukrainian army staff in Donbas provided written guarantees "of no shooting towards the Donetsk filtering station" but the workers were not let inside.
An agreement to resume operation of the Donetsk filtering station was reached at the socioeconomic subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group.
The Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said, on March 16, that "the supervisors and workers of the Voda Donbasa utility service company were unable to begin restoration work at the site, and danger of chemical contamination persisted, due to the ongoing attacks."