"I want to emphasize that the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine openly declared its readiness to undermine this dam to gain a military advantage last year," he said.
As evidence, he cited a quote from the material of The Washington Post on December 29, 2022.
It says that Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andriy "Kovalchuk thought about flooding the river." The Ukrainians, "according to him, even launched a test strike" from American MLRS HIMARS on one of the locks of the Novokakhovka dam, making three holes in the metal to see if "the water of the Dnieper can rise enough to block Russian crossings, but not flood nearby villages."
"The test was successful," Kovalchuk said, "but this step remained a last resort. Then he refused it, "Nebenzya read a quote from the publication.