UNITED NATIONS, June 7. /TASS/. Russia is witnessing the beginning of a disinformation campaign regarding Tuesday’s events at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP), Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya told the UN Security Council.
"We already see a well-coordinated information, or rather disinformation campaign. We hear statements by Western states and by Kiev, and we will definitely hear more in this chamber today that will try to assert that it is Russia who blasted the Kakhovka dam," Nebenzya said.
In his words, "these statements will run in vein with the same flawed logic, which attributes to us the ‘self-aimed bombardments’ of the ZNPP or blasts at the Nord Stream pipes."
"Such "conclusions" are suggestive of schizophrenia, maybe not even latent one," the Russian diplomat said.
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.
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 all the responsibility for the consequences.