According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine will not let the explosion of the dam on the Dnipro in the south of the country prevent it from retaking the occupied territories. “The disaster at Kakhovska hydroelectric power station caused by Russian terrorists will not stop Ukraine and the Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy said in his evening video message on Tuesday.
According to Zelenskyj, the dam was blown up to slow down the Ukrainian counter-offensive. “We will still liberate our whole country,” he announced. Such attacks could not prevent Russia’s defeat, but only meant that Moscow would eventually have to pay higher reparations. The Ukrainian Attorney General has already appealed to the International Criminal Court to investigate the explosion.
Meanwhile, Selenskyj promised help to the people of the region. The government is doing everything it can to save flood victims and to provide the population with drinking water. The head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, accused Russia of an “unprecedented war crime”.
Before the UN Security Council in New York, Kiev and Moscow blamed each other for the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN, Serhiy Kislizia, spoke of an “act of environmental and technological terrorism” at a short-term emergency meeting on Tuesday. The blast was “another example of Russia’s genocide against the Ukrainians”. Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebensia, said the incident was due to “intentional sabotage by Kiev” and classified as a war crime. The dam was used for an “unimaginable crime”.
The current developments in the live ticker:
Shortly before the meeting of the UN Security Council, the Russian Foreign Ministry had already accused Ukraine of destroying the Kakhovka dam and in turn spoke of terrorism. “The incident is a terrorist attack targeting fundamentally civilian infrastructure,” the agency said in a statement released Tuesday. Russia started the UN Security Council session to condemn the great “humanitarian and environmental catastrophe” caused by Kiev.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, this is a planned and targeted action by the Ukrainian army as part of its own counteroffensive. Kiev not only shot the dam, but also raised the water level to a critical level by opening a sluice gate on the upper reaches of the Dnipro. The collapse of the dam would damage the agriculture and ecosystem of the Kherson region and affect the water supply of Crimea.
Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, receives water from the Dnipro via a canal. If this was temporarily drained after 2014, Russia also reopened the channel to Crimea for the irrigation of the peninsula after the occupation of the Kakhovka dam.
Zelenskyy, on the other hand, gave a reason in his video message why Russia cut off the water supply to the Crimean peninsula, which she controls, with such an explosion. According to him, Moscow is already prepared to lose Crimea, which has been annexed since 2014.
According to initial estimates, the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture expects about 10,000 hectares of agricultural land on the north bank of the Dnipro in the Kherson region to be flooded after the explosion of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine. On the southern bank, in the area occupied by Russia, a large part of this area will be flooded, the ministry announced on its website on Tuesday evening. Detailed information should therefore be announced in the coming days when the ministry has a good picture of the situation.
In addition, “the man-made disaster will halt the water supply of 31 field irrigation systems in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia,” the ministry said. “The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station will mean that the fields in southern Ukraine could turn into deserts as early as next year,” it said.
France has offered aid to Ukraine after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. “France stands ready to provide assistance to the Ukrainian authorities to respond to the consequences of the partial destruction of the dam,” a letter from the French foreign ministry said on Tuesday evening. We are deeply concerned about the humanitarian, environmental and safety implications of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant. France described the destruction as a “particularly serious act”. “It once again illustrates the tragic consequences of an attack for which Russia alone is responsible.”
The federal government has also announced aid to Ukraine. Germany will assist Ukraine to deal with this disaster amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said on Tuesday. Above all, they want to help to care for evacuated people.
“The THW is therefore already preparing German aid deliveries for the affected region under high pressure,” said the minister. A statement from the Federal Agency for Technical Assistance said Ukraine’s Civil Protection Service (DSNS) would be supported with the delivery of 5,000 water filters. The filters each ensured the supply of clean water to a family.
Meanwhile, after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, the Russian leadership only wants UN aid workers to enter the Moscow-controlled area if they travel there via Russia. “They simply refuse to leave the Russian Federation,” Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Nebensia, said at the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Access is “allowed for the assistants, provided they enter from the correct room”. Nebensja also indicated that he supported an independent investigation into the background to the destruction.
Flooding after the dam breach in Kachowka will cause major flooding downstream. Rescue workers must evacuate dozens of cities to save the people of the region.
Scientists are also interested in the consequences of the Russian offensive war in Ukraine for the environment and climate. Researchers want to present findings on direct and indirect emissions from the war at the UN climate negotiations in Bonn. (con/sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
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