The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, located in the Russian-occupied areas of Kherson region in southern Ukraine, was partially destroyed on Tuesday, with Moscow and Kiev accusing each other of responsibility. Ukrainian forces carried out “multiple strikes” on the Kakhovka dam overnight Monday-Tuesday, Nova Kakhovka town mayor Vladimir Leontiev said on Telegram, claiming they had destroyed the gate valves of the dam and caused an “uncontrollable discharge of water”.
“The dam is not destroyed and it is an immense happiness”, he however assured. For its part, the Ukrainian army accused in a press release Russia of having organized an explosion on the dam. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urgently convened his security council, announced the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriï Yermak, on Telegram, denouncing a “war crime”.
The rise in water was observed in several localities located near the dam without the situation becoming critical, according to the administration of the Kherson region, installed by Russia. “If necessary, we are ready to evacuate the inhabitants of the neighboring villages,” said in a statement on Telegram the head of the government of the Kherson region, Andrei Alekseyenko, stressing however that their life is not threatened. and calling for “not to panic”.
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 1956, 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 main information to remember:
- The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam was partially destroyed
- kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of causing the damage
- Wagner chief calls Russian balance sheets ‘fantasies’
the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is not threatened
The management of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant of Zaporijjia, under Russian occupation, affirmed that the partial destruction of a dam whose water is used for its cooling does not represent a threat for the installation.
“At present, there is no threat to the security of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Five blocks are cold shutdown, one is in ‘hot shutdown’. The level of water in the cooling pond has not changed,” the manager, installed by the Russian occupation, said on Telegram.
the danger of nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhia power plant “rapidly increases” for Kyiv
The danger of a “nuclear disaster” at the Zaporizhia power plant “is increasing rapidly”, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency warned on Tuesday, after the at least partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam 150 km away, of which Kiev and Moscow accuse each other. .
“The world is once again on the verge of a nuclear disaster, because the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has lost its cooling source. And this danger is now increasing rapidly,” lamented Mykhaïlo Podoliak in a message addressed to journalists.
Wagner chief calls Russian balance sheets ‘fantasies’
The leader of the paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigojine on Tuesday described as “fantasies” the balance sheets of Ukrainian losses claimed by Moscow, which claims to have repelled two major offensives in two days. “These are just rantings,” Mr Prigojine said in a message on Telegram. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have repelled two large-scale Ukrainian offensives on Sunday and Monday in southern Donbass, and to have killed “more than 1,500 Ukrainian soldiers” and destroyed “28 tanks”.
The Ukrainian government, while claiming territorial gains near the ravaged city of Bakhmout, in the east of the country, relativized the extent of its “offensive actions” and provided no assessment. Killing 1,500 soldiers in one day is “one hell of a massacre”, quipped Wagner’s boss, mocking Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov. “In fact, why not add up all the numbers given by Konashenkov. I think we have already destroyed the whole planet Earth five times,” he quipped.
Evguéni Prigojine is accustomed to shattering statements against the Russian general staff, which he accuses in particular of not providing enough ammunition to Wagner’s men, who were on the front line in the fighting around Bakhmout.