Russia, Ukraine trade blames over Explosion at Ukraine dam, hydroelectric plant destroyed
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of causing the explosion at a dam in Southern Ukraine on Tuesday that destroyed an adjacent hydroelectric power plant and has provoked widespread fears of flooding.
The plant next to the damaged Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine was destroyed, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.
It was obvious that a repair was not possible, the Moscow-appointed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontyev, said on state television on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian power plant operator had also confirmed that the plant was destroyed.
Each side in the war blamed the other for the damage to the dam.
Ukraine’s military said Russia blew up the dam, which the Moscow-installed official in the city denied.
Russian occupiers blamed the Ukrainian shelling.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for an emergency meeting to assess the situation.
“the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land,’’ Zelensky tweeted.
The region’s Ukrainian military governor, Oleksandr Prokudin said that the water could reach a critical level within hours.
“The extent of the destruction, the speed and quantity of the water, and the likely flooded areas are being determined,’’ Prokudin said.
The Ukrainian-liberated regional capital of Kherson could also be under threat.
“The water has risen,’’ Leontyev said, according to state-run Russian news agencies.
He also said that so far there has been no need to evacuate civilians from the area.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there was no immediate danger to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant further upstream, amid fears that it should face a shortage of cooling water.
“IAEA experts at Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant are closely monitoring the situation,’’ the UN agency wrote on Twitter.
“There is no immediate nuclear safety risk at the plant,’’ it added.
The safety of the plant has been in question for many months due to the fighting in Ukraine.
It is currently occupied by Russian troops.
A spokesman for the Russian nuclear company Rosenergoatom told the Interfax agency that the nuclear plant, which like the Kakhovka dam is located on the Dnipro River, was not affected.
The British Defence Ministry meanwhile reported a substantial increase in fighting along numerous sectors of the front in Ukraine over the past 48 hours.
This included those which have been relatively quiet for several months, it said on Twitter, in its daily intelligence update on the war in Ukraine.
The statement did not give any further details, or assess whether the fighting was related to an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian troops which had occupied large parts of the country.
The ministry also reported that the dispute between the Russian mercenary force Wagner and the Russian army had reached an unprecedented level.
“For the first time, Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin has claimed that the army has employed deliberate, lethal force against Wagner units.
“Following an altercation, Wagner has likely detained a Russian army brigade commander,’’ it stated.
(dpa/NAN)
