After Kakhovka HPP damage, Zelenskyy calls on world to respond immediately and strongly to Russian terror 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated this in his video address 

"I address everyone in the world for whom life is a value. Today the Russian occupiers have committed the biggest crime of ecocide on the Ukrainian land – not only during this war, but in decades," he said. 

Zelenskyy emphasised that the Russians did to blackmail. And also to blow up the dam and use the flood as a weapon.

"The Kakhovka reservoir provided drinking water to a huge part of Ukraine – cities and villages with hundreds of thousands of people. It also supplied water to farmers for agricultural production in the south and centre of Ukraine," the president added.

He also informed that the evacuation of people from more than 80 settlements is ongoing.

"An oil slick of at least 150 tons formed and was taken by the current to the Black Sea. We cannot yet predict how much of the chemicals, fertilisers and oil products stored in the flooded areas will end up in the rivers and sea," Zelenskyy said in his address.

Zelenskyy noted that no country in the world should stand alone against such terror, and thanked everyone who helps Ukraine.

In addition, according to him, several things are clear as for today.

"First, such a crime of ecocide could not have happened simply by shelling the dam. To destroy it, Russian forces had to act deliberately – mine, blow up, destroy. Secondly, no country in the world should be left alone against such terror, and I am grateful to everyone who is helping Ukraine! Thirdly, we need an immediate and maximum global response to Russian terror. From the UN Security Council to every international institution. Every state, every leader. Russian terrorists must leave our entire territory, every metre of which they are trying to use for evil and disasters. The faster the de-occupation happens, the faster the security will come," the president said.

Zelenskyy added that the Russians’ deliberate destruction of the HPP dam looks in the same way from every point of view in the world, "For Africa, Europe, the United States, China, Australia, and India, man-made disasters are evil. We must stop the Russian evil. All other terrorists in the world must see that terror is punished by the world.."

The blowing up of Kakhovka HPP

On Tuesday, 6 June, Russian occupation forces blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, which completely destroyed it. Evacuation of residents of dangerous areas began, and the President of Ukraine convened an emergency meeting of the Security and Defenсe Council, while the world began to respond en masse to the tragedy. For a detailed summary of the events, click here.

In particular, Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers provided UAH 1.5 billion for the construction of two new water mains, which will help provide Kryvyi Rih, Nikopol and Marhanets with drinking water. Also, almost UAH 846 million was allocated to Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts to ensure the regions' drinking water needs.

A number of Ukrainian cities have declared their readiness to accept residents of the south.

Instead, Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev, the commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the occupiers' blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP will not harm the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And the Kyiv HPP is protected from air strikes and protected from Russian sabotage and intelligence groups.

At the same time, Ihor Syrota, General Director of Ukrhydroenergo, said that the peak of water spillage from the Kakhovka reservoir will be in the morning of 7 June. According to him, after that, the situation will begin to stabilise, and in 4-5 days the water level will begin to decrease.

The President of Ukraine held a meeting of the Staff of Supreme Commander-in-Chief, where they discussed the situation at the front line, the readiness for a counteroffensive and Russian’s blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP. He emphasised that the Russian Federation mined the HPP dam last year and Ukraine was ready for an explosion.

In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the consequences of blowing up the HPP and the risks for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant with the head of the IAEA and invited him to visit Ukraine. 

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine estimated that, according to preliminary calculations, as a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP, approximately 10,000 hectares of agricultural land on the right bank will be flooded.

On the evening of 6 June, the UN Security Council met to discuss the situation that arose after Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka HPP dam. Serhiy Kyslytsia, Ukraine’s Permanent Representativeat the UN, said there that the Russians proved by blowing up the hydroelectric power plant that they can’t maintain the temporarily occupied territories. Instead, the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN emphasised that the detonation of the hydroelectric power plant will have far-reaching consequences for many thousands of people.

US President Joe Biden also reacted to the tragedy. He assured of support and assistance to Ukraine.