Ukraine, Russia accuse each other of destroying Kakhovka dam

The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, located in the Russian-occupied areas of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, was partially destroyed on Tuesday, with Moscow and Kiev accusing each other of being responsible.

An image of the Khakovka dam partially destroyed on June 6, 2023. AP

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Ukrainian forces carried out "multiple strikes" on the Kakhovka dam on the night of Monday to Tuesday, the mayor of the city of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontiev, said on Telegram, claiming that they had destroyed the dam's valves and caused an "uncontrollable discharge of water". "The dam is not destroyed and it is an immense happiness," he said.

For its part, the Ukrainian army accused Russia in a statement of staging an explosion on the dam. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urgently convened his Security Council, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Iermak, announced on Telegram, denouncing a "war crime".

The rise in water was observed in several localities near the dam without the situation becoming critical, according to the administration of the Kherson region, installed by Russia. "If necessary, we are ready to evacuate the inhabitants of the riverside villages," the head of the government of the Kherson region, Andrei Alekseyenko, said in a statement on Telegram, stressing, however, that their lives are not threatened and calling for "not to give in to panic".

The Kakhovka dam, taken at the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, makes it possible to supply water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014 by Moscow. Built on the Dnieper River in 1956, during the Soviet period, the structure is partly built of concrete and earth. It is one of the largest infrastructures of its kind in Ukraine.

(

With AFP)

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