MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. The Russian cabinet of ministers has approved the establishment of a government commission to grapple with the aftermath of the flooding in the Kherson Region, triggered by sabotage at the Kakhovka Hydro Power Plant (HPP).
The commission was headed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin.
Earlier on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to set up a corresponding body later in the day.
In the morning of June 6, the Ukrainian military launched a missile attack on the Kakhovka Hydro Power Plant, which resulted in the destruction of gate sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. In nearby Novaya Kakhovka, the water level reached 12 meters, but is now receding. There are 35 communities in the flood zone, and residents of the nearby populated localities are being evacuated. According to updates, eight people have died (two of them were killed as a result of Ukrainian shelling of the evacuation point), and more than 60 have been hospitalized.