If the dam explodes, “more than 80 localities, including Kherson, will find themselves in the zone of rapid flooding”warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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Ukraine has accused Russia of mining a hydroelectric dam near Kherson in the south of the country. “Russia is consciously preparing the ground for a large-scale disaster”, denounced Volodymyr Zelensky, Thursday, October 20, during a remote statement before the Council of the European Union on Thursday. According to the Ukrainian president, the Russian forces “mined the dam and units of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station”one of the largest infrastructures of this type in Ukraine.
If the dam explodes, “more than 80 localities, including Kherson, will find themselves in the zone of rapid flooding”he was alarmed. “It could destroy the water supply of a large part of southern Ukraine”and affect the cooling of the reactors of the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant, which draws its water from this artificial lake of 18 million cubic meters, added Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russia’s goal is to stop the advance of Ukrainian troops in the region and to protect Russian forces, said Mykhailo Podolyak, one of the Ukrainian president’s advisers, on Twitter.
The Russian administration of the Kherson region assured that the evacuations of civilians had started, with Thursday 15,000 people evacuated from this territory annexed by Moscow. She plans to move “50,000 to 60,000” in a few days on the other bank of the Dnieper.