Evacuations of civilians | the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station from inside the facility, and said Russia must be held to account for a “terrorist attack“. “At 02:50, Russian terrorists carried out an internal detonation of the structures of the Kakhovskaya HPP. About 80 settlements are in the zone of flooding,“ Zelenskiy said after an emergency meeting of senior officials. A Ukrainian military spokesperson said Russia’s aim was to prevent Ukrainian troops crossing the Dnipro River to attack Russian occupying forces. Russia said Ukraine sabotaged the dam to cut off water supplies to Crimea and to distract attention from its faltering counteroffensive. “We can state unequivocally that we are talking about deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side,“ Kremlin Spokesman Peskov told reporters. Earlier some Russian-installed officials said no attack had taken place. Vladimir Rogov, a Russian installed official in Zaporizhzhia, said the dam collapsed due to earlier damage and the pressure of the water. Russia’s state news agency TASS carried a report to the same effect. --- With water levels surging higher, many thousands of people are likely to be affected. Evacuations of civilians began on both sides of the front line. Maxar said that satellite images of more than 2,500 square km (965 square miles) between NovaKakhovka and the Dniprovska Gulf southwest of Kherson city on the Black Sea, showed numerous towns and villages flooded. Ukrainian officials estimated about 42,000 people were at risk from the flooding, which is expected to peak on Wednesday, including some 25,000 in Russia-held parts. About 80 communities were threatened by flooding. The destruction of the dam risks lowering the water level of the Soviet-era North Crimean Canal, which has traditionally supplied Crimea with 85% of its water needs. Most of that water is used for agriculture, some for the Black Sea peninsula’s industries, and around one fifth for drinking water and other public needs. – Reuters