Ukrainian President Volomidir Zelensky said on Saturday (Nov. 6) that the explosion of the Kahowka dam in the southern Kherson oblast will not affect the country’s drive to restore territory.
“The main conclusion is that the explosion was deliberate,” Zelensky said in a telegram after a military command meeting, according to Reuters. “The dam burst, but it will not affect our efforts to restore the territory,” he emphasized.
Earlier in the day, the Cahowka Dam in Nova Cahowka in the southern Russian-occupied Kherson region of Ukraine was partially destroyed, sending a torrent of water rushing downstream스포츠토토.
The dam generates hydroelectricity and provides drinking and agricultural water to southern Ukraine.
Twenty-two thousand people in 14 villages in the Kherson region were at risk of flooding, Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prosecutor General Viktoria Litvinova told local TV that more than 40,000 people had to be evacuated due to flooding, including 17,000 in Ukrainian-controlled areas and 25,000 in Russian-controlled areas west of the Dnieper River.
There are also warnings that the rising water levels caused by the flooding could expose residents to landmines.
While Ukraine and Russia are currently blaming each other for the dam’s destruction, NBC News reported earlier in the day that U.S. intelligence officials have named Russia as the country behind the Cahowka Dam explosion.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there is “no immediate risk” associated with the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, using water stored in the dam for cooling. However, the risk of running out of coolant to cool the reactor remains as water levels upstream of the dam fall.
If the flooding caused by the dam’s destruction leads to civilian casualties, those responsible for the destruction could be guilty of war crimes. The Geneva Conventions recognize the deliberate destruction of dams as a war crime.