MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/. More than 30,000 cubic meters of water are being dumped from the Kakhovka Reservoir every second eroding the dam, Novaya Kakhovka Mayor Vladimir Leontyev said on Wednesday.

"Currently, over 30,000 cubic meters of water per second - such a huge volume - are being discharged from the Kakhovka Reservoir downstream. And, naturally, this huge volume of water is directly eroding the body of the dam," he told Channel One, adding that specialists are monitoring the situation.

Ukrainian forces shelled the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) in the early morning hours on Tuesday causing gate valves on the plant’s dam to collapse as a result, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. In the city of Novaya Kakhovka, the water level has reached 12 meters. People are being evacuated from neighboring settlements and about 80 communities are in the risk zone. Farmlands along the Dnieper River have incurred serious damage. There is also a risk that the level of the North Crimean Canal, which feeds water to Crimea, may become shallow. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that the attack on the Kakhovka HPP was a premeditated act of sabotage. He added that the responsibility for its consequences fully lies with the Kiev regime.