ST. PETERSBURG, June 14. /TASS/. The risk of an infectious disease outbreak after the major dam breach at the Kakhovka hydropower plant in the Kherson Region is still real, which is why vaccination will be carried out, the region’s Acting Governor, Vladimir Saldo, told TASS on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on Wednesday.

"Vaccines have already been delivered, and vaccinations will be carried out. The threat [of infectious disease outbreaks] does exist. To minimize it, of course, there will be vaccines. Botulism, cholera are possible, since a cemetery was washed away," Saldo said.

Earlier, the chairman of the regional government, Andrey Alexeyenko said that 11 vaccination centers had already been opened in the Kherson Region, and hyperchlorination of all water supply networks in emergency areas had begun.

In the early morning hours of June 6, Ukrainian forces delivered a strike on the Kakhovka HPP. The shelling destroyed the hydraulic sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. At least 17 people have died.

The collapse of the hydro plant’s dam has caused serious environmental damage, with farmland along the Dnieper River being washed away and a heightened risk that water levels in the North Crimean Canal will become unsustainably low. Over 7,000 people have been evacuated.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack on the Kakhovka HPP as a deliberate act of sabotage by Ukraine. He added that the Kiev regime should bear full responsibility for the consequences.