Kyiv: destruction of Nova Kakhovka dam will not stop Ukrainian counteroffensive
Ukraine is revising the plans for the counteroffensive due to the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, said the adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podolyak.
"Adjustments will be made in any case, but they are always made during large-scale actions. In any case, adjustments are made based on the changes in the situation along the front line or in the occupied territories," he said.
At the same time, Podolyak noted that "strategically this will not change anything," since Ukraine does not have "the option not to attack." According to him, Ukrainian citizens demand a "just end to the war", which can be achieved by liberating the occupied territories, and the undermining of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station only strengthens the desire to accelerate de-occupation.
According to the Podolyak, the 205th motorized rifle unit of the Russian Armed Forces is responsible of blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in order to: scare Ukraine's Western partners, hinder the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, to show the "successes" in the war to the Russian society.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today at an emergency meeting of the National Security Council of Ukraine that a set of international security measures was agreed upon to hold Russia accountable for this terrorist attack.
In addition, Ukraine is convening an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Kyiv also intends to appeal to the International Court of Justice because of the actions of the Russian troops that led to the disaster.
Early this morning, there were reports that the Russian army blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant located a few kilometers from the occupied city of Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region (Ukraine). The Ukrainian national power grid operator Ukrhydroenergo believes that the station, which provided electricity to more than three million people, is completely destroyed and cannot be restored. According to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, the destruction of the hydroelectric power station can lead to an environmental disaster for the south of Ukraine.
The Kremlin called the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station the result of a planned Ukrainian sabotage and rejected accusations of the involvement of the Russian military in the incident. "As a result of criminal actions on the part of the armed formations of Ukraine, the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant was destroyed, which resulted in the flooding of settlements in the Kherson region," the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.
At the same time, some experts believe that the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant was not destroyed by shelling but could have collapsed due to an earlier damage. According to Washington Post journalist Evan Hill, shortly before the dam broke, the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir rose significantly - presumably because Russia kept too few floodgates open.