Moscow last year claimed the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which make up the broader Donbas region in Ukraine, as “republics” of Russia, in a move condemned by most members of the United Nations as illegal.

The project, to be completed in the next few months, will have the capacity to carry 300,000 cubic metres of water per day and will include two 200km lines, TASS reported, citing the defence ministry.

“More than 2,600 specialists … from the Russian ministry of defence and over 1,000 units of equipment are involved around the clock in the construction,” TASS cited an unnamed defence representative as saying.

The structure will pass through the territory of the Rostov region in Russia and into the Donetsk region to the Severskiy Donets-Donbas Canal, which extends from the Donets River near the village of Raihorodok to the city of Donetsk.

The water situation in the Donbas region, which has few resources, has been critical.

The region depends on large-scale pipelines that have been damaged by nearly a year of fighting and which require electricity that is often interrupted.