Zelensky's Defiant Message After Destruction of Kakhovka Dam

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a defiant message after the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine was breached on Tuesday. It unleashed water on many square miles of territory ahead of a looming counteroffensive from Kyiv.

Both Ukraine and NATO have accused Russia of being behind the destruction of the strategically important Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River. It is located about 20 miles east of the Moscow-controlled city of Kherson. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the damage.

The Soviet-era dam was built as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP), which Russian forces have shelled since the beginning of the war. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. think tank, said in October 2022 that Russian forces may have been preparing to carry out a false-flag attack on structure.

"Russian terrorists. 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 said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Not a single meter should be left to them, because they use every meter for terror."

"It's only Ukraine's victory that will return security. And this victory will come. The terrorists will not be able to stop Ukraine with water, missiles or anything else," Zelensky added.

Unverified videos on social media showed explosions around the Kakhovka dam. It's unclear when or how the structure was damaged.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, tweeted that the incident was a "terrible technogenic, ecological and humanitarian catastrophe."

"Flooding resulting from the destruction can lead to many deaths. A lot of people will lose their homes as settelements might be flooded. Mass evacuation has already started," Gerashchenko added.

He wrote that the dam supplies water to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Putin from Ukraine in 2014.

"It's an ecological catastrophe - tens of thousands tons of fish and unique biosphere will die. The nests of millions of birds in the wetlands along the left bank of the Dnieper river have been flooded."

Gerashchenko added: "The North Crimean canal will now dry out and will remain dry for a long time. People in the south and in Crimea will be left without drinking water."

Zelensky tweeted that he had convened a meeting of his National Security and Defense Council.

Ukraine's state-owned energy company Ukrhydroenergo said in a statement on Tuesday that the Kakhovka HPP is "beyond repair."

"As a result of the blast, the machine hall inside the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was completely destroyed. The station is beyond repair," it reported. The water level in the Kakhovka reservoir was "rapidly decreasing" as of 9:00 a.m. local time, Ukrhydroenergo added.

Governor of Kherson Oblast Oleksandr Prokudin said around 16,000 people's homes in the area are in "critical risk" zones.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry via email for comment.

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