The Russian Foreign Ministry called the reason for the start of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station (HPP) collapsed on Tuesday, June 6, due to “methodical attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine” that had been carried out earlier. The diplomat also cited the words of the head of the Novokahovsky district that Ukrainian snipers had been working near the dam for a long time.

Zakharova stressed that the Ukrainian military did not allow repair work to be carried out on hydraulic structures. The ministry’s message also notes that for the first time information about the mining of the dam by the Armed Forces of Ukraine appeared on September 15, 2014. As stated in the Foreign Ministry, sappers mined the hydroelectric power station in order to avoid its capture.

The diplomatic department specified that when the hydroelectric power plant came under Russian control, it was not mined. But during the retreat, Ukrainian sappers mined the lock mechanisms of the North Crimean Canal. In this case, the explosion was avoided.

The Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station was damaged and subsequently destroyed as a result of the explosion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the night of June 6. As a result of the partial destruction of the dam, the waters of the Dnieper overflowed their banks, flooding the coastal settlements that are located downstream. So, more than four thousand people were evacuated from the flooded areas of the Kherson region. In Moscow, the incident was called a terrorist attack.

Earlier, the acting governor of the Kherson region, Volodymyr Saldo, said that the number of people hospitalized after the destruction of the hydroelectric power station had increased to 77 people. According to him, about seven thousand people were evacuated in total, including 323 children and 112 people with limited mobility.