Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday was the first to react to the destruction of the Novaya Khakovka dam, calling it an “ecological and humanitarian disaster” and accusing Kyiv of a “barbaric act”, writes Reuters.

Putin stated this in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan.

“The Kyiv authorities, on the advice of their Western mentors, are making another dangerous bet on the escalation of hostilities, the commission of war crimes, the open use of terrorist methods, and the organization of sabotage on the territory of Russia,” Vladimir Putin said, according to the agency’s press service. The Kremlin, Kommersant.ru cites.

Erdogan allegedly offered Vladimir Putin help in investigating the destruction of the Nova Khakovskaya hydroelectric dam.

We will remind, on Tuesday morning, the dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP on the Dnieper was blown up, which provoked a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster in the south of Ukraine.

Built in 1956, the power plant is of crucial importance for the energy infrastructure of Ukraine. According to the State Hydroelectric Company of Ukraine, the damage caused by the violation is “irreparable”.

Computer simulations last year showed how a possible failure of the dam in Novaya Kakhovka would cause widespread flooding along the banks of the Dnieper and its tributary to the mouth of the Black Sea.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday accused Ukraine of undermining the huge Kakhovskaya dam as part of a plan to move units from the neighboring Kherson region to conduct operations against Russian troops, Reuters reports.

Ukraine is investigating the dam explosion as a war crime and possible “ecocide,” the country’s attorney general’s office said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian military intelligence said Russian forces blew up the Kakhovskaya Dam in a Russian-controlled area of ​​southern Ukraine “at a moment of panic.”

• “The occupiers in a panic blew up the Kakhovskaya Dam – this is an obvious act of terrorism and a war crime that will be evidence in an international court,” says the message published on the Telegram channel of the Military Intelligence of Ukraine.
• Ukraine is one of the few states, including Russia, that have criminalized “ecocide” in domestic legislation.

Kyiv defines ecocide as “mass destruction of flora and fauna, poisoning of atmospheric air or water resources, as well as any other actions that may cause environmental disaster” in Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

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