Rebuilding the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, blown up by Russian forces, will require about €2 billion. Without restoring the HPP, the full operation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is impossible.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said this on December 23 during a conversation with journalists, Ukrinform reports.
The head of state noted that implementing the project requires substantial investments that Russia will not provide. According to him, Russia’s main interest is focused solely on supplying water to temporarily occupied Crimea.
At the same time, Zelensky expressed confidence that American partners could, in a short timeframe, construct a dam that would ensure water supply, including to territories under Ukrainian control, where the problem has already been partly solved by alternative means.
The president also stressed that the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant can be restored as a joint regional development project with an appropriate management model. At the same time, he named the demilitarization of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the city of Enerhodar as a key condition for the safe implementation of such a project.
Recall that, the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, which was located near the now-occupied city of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region, was destroyed on June 6, 2023. On June 18, the Kakhovka reservoir effectively ceased to exist.
As a result of the detonation, almost 10,000 hectares of wetlands of international importance were destroyed.