OREANDA-NEWS. Vitold Fokin, first deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbass, stated in an interview with Strana.ua that the situation with mine waters in Donbass may lead to a catastrophe greater than the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant of 1986.

According to the politician, most of the infrastructure in Donbass has been destroyed, and many mines have been flooded. Thus, more than 400 water reservoirs and sludge pits are overfilled. Fokin added that it is necessary to immediately organize work to clean them. Otherwise, water will fill all local rivers and lakes, and will reach the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. “Many people turn a blind eye to this, but the impending disaster could be immeasurably larger than the Chernobyl accident,” he said.

Fokin also informed that he himself and the chief of the Ukrainian delegation to the Contact Group, Leonid Kravchuk, are ready to visit Donbass to hold direct negotiations. According to Fokin, a trip to the region will allow “to find out what they [Residents. – Ed.] live by, what they see as an option to part without conflict in this situation.”