GENICHESK, June 14. /TASS/. A total of 142 people have been evacuated on Tuesday alone from populated areas in the Kherson Region, flooded after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, the acting governor of the region, Vladimir Saldo, said on Wednesday.
"In just one day of June 13, a total of 142 people, including 10 children and 13 persons with reduced mobility were evacuated from flooded territories of the Novaya Kakhovka city district and the municipal districts of the Alyoshki and Golaya Pristan," he said. "The cumulative number of evacuees has surpassed 7,200 people, including 421 children and 138 persons with reduced mobility."
On the morning of June 6, the Ukrainian military launched a missile attack on the Kakhovka HPP, which resulted in the destruction of gate sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. People are being evacuated from settlements in the flood zone. The destruction of the hydropower plant has caused serious environmental damage with farmlands along the Dnieper River being washed away. Additionally, there is a risk that the North Crimean Canal may run low and become too shallow.
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the strike on the Kakhovka dam as an act of deliberate sabotage by Ukrainian forces, adding that the Kiev regime should bear full responsibility for its consequences.