President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to the breaching of the Nova Kakhovka dam as an “environmental bomb of mass destruction” and stated that only the complete liberation of the country could ensure protection against future “terrorist” acts.
After an engine room explosion, the Ukrainian hydroelectric agency declared the plant “destroyed” and unrecoverable.
NBC reports that the Biden administration is trying to declassify and share some intelligence for unknown reasons.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine referred to the breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam as an “environmental bomb of mass destruction” and stated that only the complete liberation of the nation could assure protection against future “terrorist” acts.
Also in his nightly video address, Mr. Zelenskyy stated, “This deliberate destruction of the hydroelectric power station by the Russian occupiers and other structures is an environmental bomb of mass destruction.”
He stated that the dam’s devastation would not deter Ukraine and Ukrainians. We will still liberate our entire territory.”
Only the complete liberation of Ukrainian territory from Russian occupiers will guarantee that such terrorist attacks will never occur again.
Local authorities backed by Moscow had previously declared a state of emergency around the dam.
Nova Kakhovka, Golo Pristan, and Oleshky districts, the latter two across the mouth of the Dnieper River from the Ukrainian-held regional capital Kherson, were preparing evacuations due to adjacent flooding.
The Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka stated 600 homes were flooded and the water level rose 11 metres.
“The water level continues to rise. To preserve all lives, an evacuation of civilians from the adjacent inundated zones is currently underway… Vladimir Leontyev stated via Telegram video message that there is no pandemonium in the city.
Alongside him, an official in charge of emergencies stated that the water below the dam would continue to rise for the next 72 hours before subsiding and enabling a clean-up operation.
Mr. Leontyev continued, “This offense cannot be overlooked. This is a terrorist deed against civilians committed by Ukrainians.”
According to TASS, half of the 3,200-meter-long dam’s span has been devastated, and the collapse of the remainder is ongoing.
After an engine room explosion, the Ukrainian hydroelectric agency declared the plant “destroyed” and unrecoverable.
Additionally, RIA reported, citing the head of the Kherson region, that 22,000 persons in 14 settlements had been affected.
Rescue efforts
Both the Russian and Ukrainian banks of the river have initiated evacuations.
Nova Kakhovka residents were told to gather their belongings, documentation, and three days’ food and water. Turn off the gas and water before exiting residential structures.”
The flood killed all 300 animals at the Kazkova Dibrova Zoo on the Dnieper River, according to a Facebook post.
On the opposite bank of the river, Ukraine’s interior minister stated that Russia was bombarding areas in the southern region of Kherson where people were being evacuated on Tuesday following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam and that two police officers had been injured.
The Russian military continues to bombard areas where evacuations are taking place. Two police officers were injured in the area an hour ago. Currently, shelling persists, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko told Ukrainian television.
The Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior urged residents of 10 villages on the right bank of the Dnieper River and portions of the city of Kherson to assemble “vital documents and pets, turn off appliances, and evacuate.”
Blame game
Both Ukrainian and Russian officials blamed one another for the dam’s destruction. According to the Ukrainian military, Russian forces blew up the dam.
“The Kakhovka [dam] was blown up by Russian occupying forces,” the south command of the Ukrainian armed forces announced on Facebook on Tuesday.
The extent of the destruction, the velocity and volume of the water, and the anticipated inundated areas are being clarified.
The head of President Zelenskyy’s administration, Andriy Yermak, stated that the devastation was an attempt to “raise the stakes” in its full-scale invasion and incite fears of a nuclear disaster.
The dam was destroyed “in a panic” by Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian military intelligence agency.
The office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has initiated “urgent investigations” to determine. Whether the explosion constitutes a war crime or criminal environmental devastation, or ‘ecocide’. Ukraine is among a handful of countries, including Russia, that have criminalized ecocide.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, stated that Ukraine sabotaged the dam to divert attention away from its faltering counteroffensive and to deprive Crimea of the freshwater it receives from the reservoir.
Mr. Peskov told reporters, “We can state unequivocally that this is deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side.”
When asked about allegations that Russia devastated the dam, Mr. Peskov responded, “This is categorically false.” We officially declare that deliberate subversion by the Ukrainian side is unquestionably the case here.”
He also stated that the sabotage could have “potentially severe repercussions for tens of thousands of residents of the region.”
Nuclear horrors
The dam was constructed in 1956 on the Dnipro River as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and supplies water to the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The Ukrainian government’s atomic agency stated that the devastation of the dam posed a threat to the nuclear power plant. But that the situation at the facility was under control.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, stated on Twitter that it was closely monitoring the situation but that there was “no immediate nuclear safety risk at [the] plant.”
