Russia scares Ukrainians with blowing up Kyiv, Kaniv dams. Ukraine reacts

She said this at a briefing on July 12, TASS reports.

"We noticed a report about a study by the so-called World Data Center for Geoinformatics and Sustainable Development of the Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute of possible scenarios of flooding of adjacent territories as a result of the destruction of dams of certain reservoirs in the Dnipro cascade... The fact is that in September and October 2022, this center has already modeled the consequences of the Kakhovka HPP dam breach," Zakharova said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman claims that the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant was destroyed as a result of continuous shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the summer of 2023. Zakharova claims that Ukraine is planning to destroy another hydroelectric power plant in a similar way.

"There is absolutely no doubt that [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy's regime is planning another cynical provocation against its own population," Zakharova said.

Ukraine's reaction

The Center for Countering Disinformation notes that with these statements, the Kremlin is trying to cause panic among Ukrainians.

"At the same time, narratives about the need for "peace at any cost" are being thrown into Ukrainian society, which means de facto surrender. The enemy expects that Ukrainians will be influenced by fear to demand concessions to Russia," the Center explained.

Analysts assured that Russia does not have the means and capabilities to destroy the dams near Kyiv and Kaniv.

"It is impossible to destroy these facilities with missile strikes, and the option of sabotage is excluded, as the dams are under heavy security," the Center emphasized.

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responds to Russia's statement

The ministry strongly denies Russian accusations that the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly preparing to blow up the dams of the Kyiv hydroelectric power plant, the Kaniv reservoir, or other infrastructure to allegedly blame Russia.

"There can be no realistic goal or motive for Ukraine to destroy its own infrastructure or endanger its own people. As for " laying the blame on Russia," the Russian regime is coping with this task perfectly well with its own war crimes. The barbaric strike of a Russian missile on children in the main children's hospital of Ukraine, Okhmatdyt, speaks for itself," the statement said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the only reason for the danger to civilians and the destruction of critical infrastructure in Ukraine is Russian aggression.

"If Moscow implements any criminal intentions regarding the dams of the Kyiv hydroelectric power plant, Kaniv reservoir, or other infrastructure, the responsibility for such actions will be borne solely by the aggressor state of Russia," it added.

Ukrainian diplomats said that the real purpose of such statements by Moscow is to intimidate Ukrainian society and mislead the international community and the media: "Russia has demonstrated this strategy many times before: accusing others of what it does or plans to do. Russia's latest fantasies about the Dnipro dams are a reason for the international community to monitor Russia's actions even more closely."

They reminded that Russia committed the largest man-made disaster in Europe in recent decades by blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

"It is noteworthy that this barbaric act, which led to ecocide and humanitarian disaster, was accompanied by an active disinformation campaign. At the time, Moscow also accused Kyiv of this crime, contrary to any real facts. Unfortunately, many foreign publications then unknowingly played along with Russian propaganda, spreading news with headlines about Ukraine and Russia allegedly "accusing each other," the statement said.

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine called on international media not to quote Russian speakers "without additional information about the previous history of their lies and not to put an equal sign between Ukrainian and Russian statements. A professional approach to quoting professional Russian liars is to provide context, not just paraphrase their words."

• The Russians blew up the Kakhovka HPP on June 6, 2023. According to experts, there is evidence to suggest that the dam was destroyed by an explosion from the inside. According to them, a "structural failure" or an attack from the outside is possible, but is a "less plausible explanation".