ST. PETERSBURG, June 14. /TASS/. Seventeen people went missing following the Kakhovka dam breach in the Kherson Region, the region’s Interim Governor Vladimir Saldo told TASS.
"It is already known for sure that 17 people haven’t been found. Enough time has passed. There are victims, who are in hospitals with severe consequences. There are about 15 of them," he said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Saldo also said the humanitarian and environmental situation was tense following the collapse of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.
"The humanitarian situation is very tense. It is not because there’s a lack of food and assistance - the amount that’s being provided is huge. <...> This is an eco-disaster. A large discharge of water, which came out of the Kakhovka reservoir into the Black Sea, threatens even the neighboring countries. Because the contaminated water will reach Bulgaria and Romania across the Black Sea," he said.
Kakhovka HPP situation
The Ukrainian Armed Forces inflicted a missile strike on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on the morning of June 6, destroying its valves and prompting an uncontrolled release of water. The destruction of the dam has caused serious damage to the environment, washed away farmlands along the Dnieper and raised the risk of the North Crimean Canal drying up. Saldo has said 7,200 people were evacuated from flooded areas. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the attack on the Kakhovka HPP a deliberate act of sabotage by Ukraine and said that the Kiev regime should be held responsible for the consequences.