At least 150 tons of machine oil have been released into the Dnipro River after Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka dam on June 6, the President's Office reported.
According to the President's Office, there is a risk of 300 additional tons of machine oil leaking into the river.
President Volodymyr Zelensky convened an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine after Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant’s dam on the morning of June 6, sparking a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine.
The attack occurred around 2:50 a.m. local time, the President's office wrote.
No civilian or military casualties were reported as a result of the explosion, but 80 settlements are in the immediate flood zone.
The Interior Ministry reported that as of 11:00 a.m. local time, 885 civilians have been evacuated from Kherson Oblast. However, some of the settlements which face the biggest risk of flooding are under Russian occupation.
Kherson Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said that civilians evacuated from the critical risk zones are being transported by bus and train to Mykolaiv, Khmelnytsky, Odesa, Kropyvnytskyi, Kyiv, and other cities.
The members of the National Security and Defense Council agreed on a set of international measures following the attack, including convening a meeting of the UN Security Council and appealing to organizations such as the International Criminal Court.
Several world leaders have already publicly condemned Russia's destruction of the Kakhovka dam, with many of them calling it a war crime.
Olena Goncharova
(Updated: )
