An attack on a dam in the south of Ukraine, for which Moscow and kyiv reject responsibility, caused flooding in the surrounding areas on Tuesday and concerns for the Zaporizhjia nuclear power plant.
The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in the Kherson region is located along the Dnieper 150 km from the power station, which it cools in the neighboring region of Zaporijjia, also partially occupied by Russian forces.
Russia will be held to account for the “war crime” of destroying civilian infrastructure, said European Council chief Charles Michel.
There is “no immediate nuclear danger,” assured the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stressing that its experts at the Zaporizhia power plant were monitoring the situation.
According to kyiv, the danger of a nuclear disaster at the plant is “growing rapidly”. The Ukrainian operating company, Ukrgidroenergo, estimated that the reservoir of the dam “should be operational for the next four days” but its level is decreasing rapidly, threatening the operation of the plant’s security system.
According to Moscow, the plant, located on the banks of the Dnieper, but higher than the dam attacked, is not threatened.
‘No threat’
The director of the plant, Yuri Tchernichuk, installed by the Russian occupation, assured on Telegram that “at the moment there is no threat” for the security of the installation. “Five blocks are cold shut down, one is at ‘hot shut down’. The water level in the cooling pond has not changed,” he said.
Ukraine accused Russia of having “blown up” the dam to “curb” its offensive.
“The objective of the terrorists is obvious: to create obstacles for the offensive actions of the Ukrainian armed forces”, affirmed Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, in a message addressed to journalists.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urgently convened his security council, and the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriï Yermak, denounced a “war crime” by Moscow.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal, for his part, called on the world to “react” and considered that “Russia must immediately withdraw from the nuclear power plant (Zaporizhya) to avoid a new disaster”.
According to him, up to 80 localities are threatened by the flood and “evacuation measures are underway” by train to Mykolaiv. As of 0900 GMT, 742 people had been evacuated from the Kherson region, according to Interior Minister Igor Klymenko.
For their part, the local authorities installed by Moscow have incriminated “multiple strikes” Ukrainian on the dam, according to them partially destroyed.
Flood
“According to the emergency services, the water has risen […] at a level of between 2 and 4 meters which does not threaten the large localities “below, declared on Telegram Andrei Alekseïenko, head of the government of the Kherson region.
In total, the “coastal territories” of 14 localities where “more than 22,000 people reside” are threatened with flooding, he said, assuring: “the situation is completely under control”.
“The dam is not destroyed and it is an immense happiness”, for his part assured the mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontiev. He announced the evacuation of the inhabitants of “about 300 houses” located directly on the banks of the Dnieper.
The Kakhovka dam, taken at the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, notably makes it possible to supply water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014 by Moscow.
Laid out on the Dnieper River in the 1950s, during the Soviet period, the work is built partly of concrete and earth.
It is one of the largest infrastructures of this type in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Air Force General Staff announced that, overnight from Monday to Tuesday, the country’s air force intercepted all 35 cruise missiles that targeted Ukraine. from the Caspian Sea.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam comes a day after Ukraine asserted that it had gained ground near the ravaged town of Bakhmout, while downplaying the extent of the “offensive actions” carried out elsewhere on the front, the Russia claiming on the contrary to repel these large-scale attacks.
These operations take place at a time when the Ukrainian authorities say they have been preparing for months a vast counter-offensive intended to force Russian troops to withdraw from the areas they occupy.