NOVAYA KAKHOVKA /Kherson Region/, June 7. /TASS/. The water level in Novaya Kakhovka has slightly lowered in recent hours after the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydropower Plant (HPP), head of the city’s administration Vladimir Leontyev told TASS on Tuesday.

"[The water level has lowered] insignificantly. By around one or 1.5 centimeters in recent hours," he said, adding that the situation in the city is very tense.

Ukrainian forces shelled the Kakhovka HPP in the early morning hours on Tuesday, presumably using missiles fired from an Olkha multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). The gate valves of the plant’s dam collapsed as a result of the shelling, causing water to pour out uncontrollably.

As of now, the water level in Novaya Kakhovka has risen to above 12 meters. Fourteen settlements have been flooded and up to 80 are at risk of being inundated. People are being evacuated from neighboring settlements. However, according to local authorities, large-scale evacuations are not necessary. Farmlands along the Dnieper have been washed away. There is a risk of the drying out of the North Crimean Canal, which feeds water to Crimea.

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has lambasted Ukraine’s strike on the Kakhovka HPP as a willful act of sabotage and placed responsibility for it entirely on the Kiev regime.