GENICHESK, June 19. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops are delivering up to 200 strikes a day on residential quarters in Kherson Region neighborhoods which are recovering from the floods triggered by the collapse of the Kakhovka Hydropower Plant (HPP), head of the region’s government, Andrey Alexeyenko, said on Monday.
"There are many shelling attacks, as usual. About 200 a day. They target residential quarters using all calibers. But cleanup and repair works after the emergency continue anyway," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to Alexeyenko, work to pump water from basements and disinfect areas is nearing completion in Novaya Kakhovka. "Efforts are now focused on Alyoshki and Golaya Pristan. <…> The top priority is to clear the water. Power, including to the hospital, has been turned back on in Alyoshki," he added.
Apart from that, in his words, as many as 3,107 people have been vaccinated against infection and 1,890 people affected by the flood have been paid allowances of 10,000 rubles (some $120). "The epidemic situation is under strict control. Ten water samples were taken from various sources during the past day, and 198 samples during the emergency period. Only 13 of them did not meet standards. Measures are being taken to disinfect these sources," he noted.
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. Water levels in Novaya Kakhovka rose to 12 meters, but now the water is subsiding. There are 35 communities in the flood zone. People are being evacuated from flooded areas. According to the latest data, thirty-five people have died and 110 have been hospitalized. 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.