“Mr. Putin, I’ll be honest with you, the most difficult issue and the most serious challenge for us is, of course, the issue of water supply. The problem escalated for us after the enemy imposed a water blockade”, - said Pushilin during a meeting with the russian dictator putin yesterday, July 4. This was reported by Important Stories media.
Pushilin said that half of the needed water was taken from reserve reservoirs, and the other half came through a water pipeline.
This refers to a pipeline from Rostov-on-Don to the occupied Donetsk, which was built as a replacement for the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas canal, bombed by the russians, part of which is located in free Ukrainian territory.
In response, putin disagreed with Pushilin about the causes of the water collapse.
“Mr. Pushilin, but unfortunately, the pipeline that was built doesn’t solve all the problems. Moreover, as I understand, it hasn’t even reached its planned capacity yet. But there’s another issue the government reports to me — significant water losses during the transfer of these resources”, - putin replied.
The publication recalled that the Don–Donetsk canal, which was supposed to deliver water from the the Rostov oblast, still doesn’t work properly. In January 2023, the military construction complex of the ministry of defense began construction of the canal.
According to pro-government media, the cost of the project rose from 70 to 200 billion rubles, but locals say the canal never really started functioning. The project was then overseen by the now-convicted former deputy defense minister of the russian federation, Timur Ivanov, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for bribery.