On the night of June 6, the Kyiv regime committed another terrorist crime by blowing up the structures of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, which led to the flooding of large areas of the Kherson region, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. He also named the alleged purpose of the actions of the Ukrainian side.

"Having failed to achieve success in offensive operations, in order to strengthen its potential, the enemy intends to transfer units and equipment from the Kherson direction to the area of its offensive operations, thus significantly weakening its positions in the Kherson direction," Shoigu said.

At the same time, he noted that the Kyiv regime has begun to build defensive positions on the right bank of the Dnieper.

"In order to prevent offensive actions of the Russian army on this sector of the front, the Kyiv regime carried out a sabotage, and in fact a terrorist act that led to the flooding of large areas and will have serious and long-term environmental consequences," the Russian minister added.

There is also evidence that the discharge of water from the Dnipropetrovsk hydroelectric power station has been significantly increased, which leads to even greater flooding of the territories, the minister said. "This fact testifies to a large-scale sabotage planned in advance by the Kiev regime," Shoigu stressed.

Criminal case under the article "Terrorist attack"

The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case on the fact of the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station as a result of criminal actions on the part of the armed formations of Ukraine, which led to the flooding of settlements in the Kherson region.

"The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation initiated a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under paragraphs "a" and "c" of Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("A terrorist act committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy and resulting in significant property damage and the onset of other grave consequences")," the report said.

Also, employees of the department will establish the circumstances of the incident and the amount of damage caused to the region: "The actions of all those involved will be given a legal assessment."

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In addition, the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia instructed the prosecutors of the region to take control of the protection of the rights of residents of the Kherson region. The organization of evacuation from the territories that fell into the flood zone is also controlled.

Along with this, the administration of the Kherson region reported details of the organized evacuation of residents from the affected coastal settlements. Rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, employees of administrations and the military work there.

"At 12:30 on behalf of Vladimir Saldo, 53 buses were sent to organize the evacuation of residents from settlements affected by flooding to Nova Kakhovka, Alyoshki and Hola Pristan," the report said.

It is noted that at a safe distance from the places of the river flood, temporary accommodation centers with hot meals are being created for all evacuated residents.

'Deliberate sabotage'

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recalled in her Telegram channel that Russia warned the UN last fall about Kyiv's plans to destroy the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. As confirmation, she published a letter from Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, addressed to Secretary General António Guterres.

"A question to the UN Secretary-General: what has been done?" asked Zakharova.

At the same time, in December, Major General of the Ukrainian troops Andriy Kovalchuk, in a conversation with the American edition of The Washington Post, reported that the Kyiv regime was considering the possibility of damaging the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in order to raise the water level in the Dnieper.

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, said that we are talking about a "deliberate sabotage" of the Ukrainian side, which was planned and "carried out on the orders of the Kyiv regime." According to him, the incident could lead to very serious consequences for several tens of thousands of residents of the Kherson region.

He also said that Vladimir Putin receives reports from the Ministry of Defense and other services about what is happening around the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station.

"Apparently, this sabotage is also connected with the fact that, having started large-scale offensive operations two days ago, now the Ukrainian armed forces are not achieving their goals - these offensive actions are choked," the Kremlin spokesman added.