MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called Kiev’s recent attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant "a barbaric act," the Kremlin press service reported on Wednesday.
The Russian leader noted that Kiev, at the behest of the West, continues to aggravate the situation and use terrorist means. The attack on the Kakhovka HPP is the latest example of this.
"Vladimir Putin stated that the Kiev authorities, at the suggestion of their Western curators, are still banking on the escalation of hostilities, committing war crimes, openly using terrorist methods, and organizing sabotage on Russian territory. A vivid example of this is the barbaric act to destroy the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in the Kherson region, which led to a large-scale environmental and humanitarian disaster," the statement says.
The press service noted that the leaders of Russia and Turkey exchanged views on the situation around Ukraine.
On Tuesday night, Ukrainian forces delivered a strike on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), presumably from an Olkha multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). The shelling destroyed the hydraulic sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. In Novaya Kakhovka, the water level exceeded 12 meters at one point, but is now receding. There are currently 35 population centers in the flood zone; residents of nearby towns and villages are being evacuated. The collapse of the hydro 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.