NOVAYA KAKHOVKA /Kherson Region/, June 7. /TASS/. Novaya Kakhovka Mayor Vladimir Leontyev said that the collapse of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), which led to the uncontrolled discharge of water from the Kakhovka reservoir, was an act of ‘ecological genocide’.

"Enormous damage will be done and has already been done to the environment. This is also ecological genocide," Leontyev told reporters.

On Tuesday night, the Ukrainian military delivered a strike on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), presumably from an Olkha MLRS. The shelling destroyed the hydraulic valves at the dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. In Novaya Kakhovka, the water level has already exceeded 12 meters. There are currently 14 settlements in the flooded area, and a total of about 80 villages may be inundated. Residents of nearby settlements are being evacuated, though authorities have said no large-scale evacuations are necessary. The collapse of the plant's dam has caused serious environmental damage. Farmlands along the Dnieper River have been washed away, and there is a risk that the North Crimean Canal will become shallow.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack on the Kakhovka HPP as a deliberate act of sabotage by Ukraine. He added that the Kiev regime should bear full responsibility for the consequences.