The Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, spoke about the situation around the Kakhovska hydroelectric power plant and commented on the plans of the Russian administration to start sending water into Crimea through the North Crimean Canal, the press center of the Chief Directorate of Intelligence reports.
“This Russian attempt, I think, is not news to anyone. They will try to send water to occupied Crimea as they are well aware that all the tales that they have resolved the water issue over the years are nothing more than propaganda. They blew up one of the dams, the water went partly, so to speak, to the North Crimean canal. But water cannot simply flow by itself - it must be understood. This is a complex system of hydraulic structures that require pumping stations. That is, the water can not just flow there, and it will not,” Budanov said.
The North Crimean Canal is an irrigation structure, irrigation, and watering canal in the south of Ukraine (Kherson region and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea). One of the largest irrigation facilities in the former USSR, which takes water from the Dnipro River (Kakhovka Reservoir). Until 2014, the canal provided up to 85% of Crimea's freshwater needs. It has not been in operation since April 2014.
On 26 February 2022 Russian military blew up a dam on the North Crimean canal.
Ben Hodges, former commanding general of the United States Army in Europe, in an interview in June 2020, suggested that Russia could invade the Kherson region and seize the dam.