The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant's dam in Kherson Oblast was blown up by Russia's 205th Motorized Rifle Brigade, National Security and Defense Council chief Oleksii Danilov said on June 6, as cited by Ukrainian news outlet Liga.
The brigade members have been stationed at the power plant near Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka and controlled the facility, Danilov said on national television.
The information on who had blown up the dam was first reported by Mykhailo Podoliak, an advisor to the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, cited by Ukrainska Pravda publication.
Podoliak added that Russia's destruction of the power plant was an undoubted use of indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction, according to the Geneva Conventions.
Kate Tsurkan
Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka dam on 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 crucial to 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. According to Ukraine's Interior Ministry, 885 people have been evacuated from Kherson Oblast as of 11:00 a.m. local time, and the process is ongoing.
The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant has been occupied by Russian troops since the first days of Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
According to Ukraine's military intelligence, Russian forces mined the plant twice last year before blowing it up on June 6, 2023.
Olena Goncharova
(Updated: )
