Ukraine calls on world to condemn Russian terrorist attack on Kakhovka HPP

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has called on the international community to strongly condemn the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and stressed that Russia will have to compensate for all the consequences of its crime for people, infrastructure and the environment.

The ministry said this in a statement published on its website, according to Ukrinform.

"On the night of June 6, the Russian Federation blew up the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (KHPP), which is located near the town of Nova Kakhovka in the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region. Dozens of settlements on both sides of the Dnipro River are at risk of flooding. Units of the National Police and the State Emergency Service of the Kherson region are taking urgent measures to evacuate the civilian population from potential flooding zones. Residents of the temporarily occupied left bank of the Kherson Region are being alerted. We consider the Russian Federation's detonation of the dam of the KHPP as a terrorist act against Ukrainian critical infrastructure, which aims to cause as many civilian casualties and destruction as possible," the ministry said.

It recalled that the terrorist attack on the Kakhovka HPP was previously intensely discussed at the level of the occupation forces in the Kherson region and propagandists on Russian television, which indicates that it was planned in advance.

"The explosion of the dam of the Kakhovka HPP is an ecological and technological act of terrorism, the biggest technological disaster in Europe in recent decades, yet another example of Russia's genocide against Ukrainians.  This is the Kremlin's response to countries calling for peace talks with the Russian Federation. Due to the decrease in the water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir, there is also a danger of an incident at another critical infrastructure facility occupied by Russia - the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. We call on the international community to resolutely condemn the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka HPP," the statement said.

The ministry also drew attention to the fact that the technological crime of the Russian Federation confirms the high relevance of the Peace Formula of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.

"We call on international partners to join its implementation as soon as possible, in particular the points on countering ecocide, nuclear and energy security. Russia will have to compensate for all the consequences of its crime: for people, infrastructure and the environment," the ministry said.

Ukrainian diplomats also appealed to the Group of Seven nations and the EU to urgently consider the imposition of new far-reaching sanctions on the Russian Federation, in particular related to the Russian missile industry and the nuclear sector.

The ministry said that following a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council in the morning of June 6, the list of actions of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in the context of response, proposed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, had been approved. In particular, it includes the convening by Ukraine of an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and bringing the issue of the Russian terrorist attack to the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, as well as the engagement of the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union.

Russian troops blew up the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 6. In the Kherson region, the population is being evacuated from villages and cities that are at risk of flooding.