Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant’s dam in Kherson Oblast on June 6 will not prevent Ukraine’s planned counteroffensive, Ukraine’s Armed Forces said.
Ukraine’s military said it is “equipped with all the necessary watercraft and pontoon bridges for crossing water obstacles,” adding that Russia’s actions “will not stop Ukraine’s Defense Forces, which are ready to liberate Ukraine’s occupied territories.”
The military said that Russian forces destroyed the dam due to their “fear of the Ukrainian army” and the “success of Ukraine’s Defense Forces in carrying out offensive actions.”
Meanwhile, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov called the destruction of the dam a “fundamentally new stage of Russian aggression.”
“The complete and final dismantling of the Kremlin’s entirely false ideological construct has taken place,” Danilov said, calling Russia’s false claims about the so-called “liberation of Ukraine,” “fight against the Nazis,” and exclusive targeting of military targets “purely propaganda and false theses.”
Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant’s dam across the Dnipro River on the morning of June 6, sparking a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine.
Built in 1956, the power plant is a crucial component of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. According to Ukraine’s state hydroelectric power company, the damage caused by the breach is “impossible to repair.”
Around 16,000 people’s homes in Kherson Oblast are reportedly located in “critical risk” zones for flooding. Seven hundred and forty-two people have been evacuated from Kherson Oblast as of 10:00 a.m. local time, according to the Interior Ministry.
Olena Goncharova
(Updated: )
