The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Russian Federation strongly condemns the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) by Kiev, which led to a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster, the press service of the Foreign Ministry reports.

Russian diplomats pointed out that the collapse of the dam of this civilian infrastructure facility caused a significant rise in the water level downstream of the Dnieper.

“Settlements are flooded, thousands of people need to be evacuated. It has already begun. Enormous damage from this sabotage of the Kyiv regime was inflicted on the agriculture of the region and the ecosystem of the mouth of the Dnieper. As a result of the inevitable shallowing of the Kakhovka reservoir, the water supply of Crimea will be hindered, and the reclamation of agricultural lands in the Kherson region will be disrupted,” the statement says.

Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Kyiv blew up the constructions of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, which led to the flooding of the territories.

Prior to this, the mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontiev, said that the worst possible outcome due to the destruction at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was over.

On the night of June 6, in the Kherson region, the upper part of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station was destroyed near Novaya Kakhovka. Dozens of settlements, including Kherson and New Kakhovka, began to be flooded with water.

Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of destroying the dam. There is also a version that the accident occurred due to "old damage". The Ukrhydroenergo company stated that the station was completely destroyed and cannot be restored.