diff --git a/docs/changelog/next_release/71.breaking.rst b/docs/changelog/next_release/71.breaking.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cf32b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/next_release/71.breaking.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Remove ``cover`` method from base ``HWM`` class, it only remains in ``FileHWM`` class
diff --git a/etl_entities/VERSION b/etl_entities/VERSION
index ac2cdeb..ccbccc3 100644
--- a/etl_entities/VERSION
+++ b/etl_entities/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.1.3
+2.2.0
diff --git a/etl_entities/hwm/file/file_hwm.py b/etl_entities/hwm/file/file_hwm.py
index 55e27ad..c840e41 100644
--- a/etl_entities/hwm/file/file_hwm.py
+++ b/etl_entities/hwm/file/file_hwm.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import os
+from abc import abstractmethod
 from typing import Generic, Optional, TypeVar
 
 from pydantic import Field, validator
@@ -67,6 +68,10 @@ class FileHWM(
     class Config:  # noqa: WPS431
         json_encoders = {AbsolutePath: os.fspath}
 
+    @abstractmethod
+    def covers(self, value: FileHWMValueType) -> bool:
+        """Return ``True`` if input value is already covered by HWM"""
+
     def __eq__(self, other):
         """Checks equality of two FileHWM instances
 
diff --git a/etl_entities/hwm/key_value/key_value_int_hwm.py b/etl_entities/hwm/key_value/key_value_int_hwm.py
index ae20a95..b93bf28 100644
--- a/etl_entities/hwm/key_value/key_value_int_hwm.py
+++ b/etl_entities/hwm/key_value/key_value_int_hwm.py
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ class KeyValueIntHWM(KeyValueHWM[int]):
         )
     """
 
+    # employing frozendict without specifying `frozendict[Any, int]`
+    # due to the lack of support for generic dict annotations in Python 3.7.
     value: frozendict = Field(default_factory=frozendict)
 
     def serialize(self) -> dict: