Ukraine's Ace-in-the-hole over Crimea if it sides with Russia: Water and Electricity

As Russia’s stranglehold on Crimea tightens, the Ukrainian province to the north is warning it could make life on the peninsula miserable if the coveted region chooses sides with Moscow in Sunday's referendum. 

Pro-Moscow officials in Crimea, who favor secession from Ukraine, have said they will seize all utilities and assets owned by the Kiev-based Ukrainian government if the referendum goes as expected. But Crimea's electricity, freshwater and natural gas all flows in from the province of Kherson, where leaders warn they will shut everything off if the referendum they say is illegitimate, goes forward.

The Ukrainian peninsula province of Crimea is dependent 

on a 250-mile viaduct called the North Crimea Canal,

for its freshwater. (Courtesy: Evgeniy Shpakovskiy)

Last week, Kherson’s regional legislature overwhelmingly passed a motion supporting the preservation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. 

“We are doing everything in our power to keep the situation calm,” Kherson region governor Yuriy Odarchenko told FoxNews.com. Last week, FoxNews.com reported on a tense standoff just north of the Kherson-Crimea border, where suspected Russian troops have set up a checkpoint along a key highway, just 25 miles south of a Ukrainian checkpoint. Locals in Chonhar, a small border village, say the Russians have planted land mines along the border. 

But while most of the emphasis has been on preventing the Russians from moving into Kherson, Odarchenko indicated the province could go on the offensive if Crimea, which is 60 percent ethnic Russian, votes to secede. 

Crimea's freshwater flows in from the Kakhov Reservoir in Kherson via the 250-mile North Crimean Aqueduct. The peninsula’s vast orchards and vineyards rely on mainland water supply for their livelihood, as do the people in Crimea’s cities of Simferopol, Sevastopol, Kerch, Sudak and Feodosia. 

Just as important to Crimea is the power it gets from the Kakhov and Zaporizhiya hydroelectric power stations in Kherson, which provide the peninsula with 75-80 percent of its electricity needs. Finally, Crimea gets 35 percent of its natural gas delivered through pipelines that extend from the mainland via the Mykolayiv and Kherson regions

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