Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday blamed Russian troops for the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and called on residents of areas along the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine to leave their homes.
The Southern Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was ahead of the destruction of infrastructure 60 kilometers from the city of Kherson and indicated that it was investigating the extent of the damage, as well as the speed and amount of water that should affect neighboring areas.
According to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, the explosion was carried out by the Russians from the dam facilities. “Tonight at 2:50 Russian terrorists carried out an internal explosion of the structures of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station. There are about 80 villages in the flood zone,” he said in Telegram, citing Reuters.
Shortly before 07:00 (05:00 Lisbon time), the head of the Kherson regional military administration, Alexander Prokudin, said in a video published on the Telegram platform that “the Russian army has committed another terrorist attack” and warned that the water should reach a “critical level” within five hours .
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine called on residents of 10 villages on the right bank of the Dnieper and part of the city of Kherson to collect the necessary documents and pets, turn off electrical appliances and leave their homes.
Images circulating on social media that appear to be from a surveillance camera overlooking the dam show a focus of light, an explosion and the destruction of the dam.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential cabinet of Ukraine, said that President Volodymyr Zelensky urgently convened a meeting of the country’s Security Council after “another war crime committed by Russian terrorists.”
In response, Moscow said the dam collapsed “due to damage” caused by the conflict, confirming that nearby land had been affected by flooding.
“The dam collapsed, the support collapsed, the flood started,” a source told the official Russian news agency TASS.
The mayor of the occupied city of Nova Kakhovka said that at about 02:00 (23:00 Monday in Lisbon), Ukrainian forces carried out “a series of attacks on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, as a result of which the valves were destroyed.”
Also, according to TASS, Vladimir Leontiev said that the water is “uncontrollably” coming out of the dam.
Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over alleged attacks on the dam, and in October Zelenskiy warned that Russia planted explosives in the structure to cause flooding and hamper the advance of Ukrainian troops.
In February, water levels at the Kakhovka dam were so low that many feared a meltdown at the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, whose cooling systems are fed by water from a reservoir served by the dam.
In mid-May, after heavy rains and winter snowmelt, water levels rose above normal, flooding nearby villages.
Author: Portuguese This morning Post
Source: CM Jornal
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