MOSCOW, Feb 24 - RIA Novosti. Thanks to the withdrawal of Russian troops to Kherson, it was possible to unblock the North Crimean Canal, said the official representative of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov.
As the adviser to the head of Crimea Sergey Aksenov clarified, the water supply through the North Crimean Canal will begin when pumping stations and hydraulic structures are ready for this.
The decision on the water supply will be made tomorrow - after the inspection of the canal and its nodes, which are controlled by the Russian Armed Forces, Aksenov himself pointed out.
"Tomorrow morning, our engineers will once again look at the readiness of the dampers of the water supply systems, there is still a need for manual pressure adjustment. Tomorrow morning, all technical decisions will be made, we will do it within one day if possible. We can take water into the canal," he said on the Crimean 24 TV channel.
Previously, Ukraine provided up to 85 percent of Crimea's fresh water needs through the North Crimean Canal running from the Dnieper. However, after the reunification of the peninsula with Russia, it completely stopped filing unilaterally.
The issue was solved due to extraction from underground sources and reservoirs of natural filling, in some areas of the republic, a regime supply to houses was introduced, the water supply of Simferopol was reoriented to artesian sources. The implementation of the comprehensive plan of the Russian government to ensure reliable water supply has begun. About 50 billion rubles were allocated to solve the problem.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in the Donbass. He assured that Moscow's plans do not include the occupation of Ukraine, only its demilitarization and denazification. The Head of State called the purpose of the operation to protect the residents of the DPR and LPR, who have been subjected to genocide for eight years.
The President called on the employees of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to lay down their arms: they will be able to leave the war zone unhindered and return to their families. According to Putin, all responsibility for the bloodshed will be on the conscience of the Kiev regime.
The Ministry of Defense stressed that they do not strike any civilian objects on the territory of Ukraine, only on military infrastructure, the civilian population is not in danger.
About two hours after that, the ministry added that the Ukrainian border guards "do not offer any resistance," Ukrainian air defense systems are suppressed, the military infrastructure of military air bases is out of order. The information of foreign media about the Russian plane shot down over Ukraine was not confirmed by the Ministry of Defense.
