KIEV, May 3 – Ukraine will continue water supplies to areas controlled by separatists even as they refuse to pay for the service, Vadym Chernysh, the minister for temporary occupied territories and internally displaced persons, said Wednesday.

"From the humanitarian point of view, Ukraine cannot do it and won't do it,” Chernysh said in an interview with Channel 5. “All this time Ukraine has been supporting the functioning of this [water supply] system, which provides for our citizens on both sides of the [demarcation] line."