Russian Foreign Ministry Accuses Ukraine of Plotting to Destroy Kyiv Dam and Frame Russia

Russia has accused Ukraine of preparing to destroy the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Station and the Kaniv Reservoir.

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has once again alleged that Ukrainians destroyed their own Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station. According to her, Ukraine is now "preparing another provocation to blame Russia."

"We have noted reports that have emerged about research conducted by the so-called World Data Center for Geoinformatics and Sustainable Development of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute on possible scenarios of flooding adjacent territories due to the destruction of dams of certain reservoirs in the Dnipro cascade," she said.

On June 6, 2023, Russian forces blew up the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station. As a result of the explosion, settlements on both banks of the Dnipro River were flooded. Officially, 32 people died, but it is unknown how many people died on the temporarily occupied left bank of Kherson region by the Russians.

According to the Ministry of Environment, the total losses from the explosion of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station exceed UAH 146 billion ($5.33 billion).

Ukraine warned of a possible international-scale catastrophe as early as last fall. In October 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United Nations, the European Union, and other international organizations to send an international observation mission to the occupied hydroelectric power station together with Ukrainian experts.