Ukraine starts repair works on power line to Crimea

Ukrainian engineers have started fixing one of the four damaged power lines in southern Kherson region that provide electricity to Crimea, authorities said Tuesday.

"Currently, the workers are clearing the territory and dismantling the destroyed pylon. They are prepared to install a new power line," Ukrainian state-run energy company Ukrenergo said in a statement.

The repair works will be completed within three days and the power line will be put into operation as soon as Ukrenergo signs a corresponding agreement with activists, who are blocking the damaged facilities, the statement said.

On late Monday, the protesters allowed Ukrenergo to start repair works on the energy transmission line, which delivers electricity to Crimea and Kherson region. However, maintenance crews are not allowed to fix the other three pylons, which serve the Black Sea peninsula.

Activists, among whom are ethnic Crimean Tatars and members of Ukrainian nationalist movements, put forward a list of political demands for Ukrainian and Russian authorities to completely unblock the broken power lines.

Last week, four transmission pylons were reportedly blown up, leaving more than 1.8 million people in the Crimean peninsula and two districts of Kherson region without electricity.

Protesters, who surrounded the site after the incident, denied their responsibility for the attacks on the power lines. Endi