MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. Ukraine’s military had been hitting the Kakhovka Hydro Power Plant (HPP) with missile and artillery strikes since the summer of 2022, and those attacks triggered the collapse of its dam, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Saturday, offering a timeline of Ukrainian attacks.

"Ukrainian armed forces’ methodical attacks on the HPP led to the destruction of its structures and uncontrolled discharge of water from the Kakhovka Reservoir downstream of the Dnieper River, which began on June 6, 2023," the statement said.

According to this information, Ukraine commenced strikes on the dam on July 11, 2022, using large-caliber ammunition and a variety of multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS). It is said that in the summer and fall of 2022, more than 300 rockets were fired at the Kakhovka HPP only from the US-made HIMARS.

The statement draws attention to the words of Ukrainian General Andrey Kovalchuk, who was the Ukrainian forces’ commander in the Kharkov Region, from his interview with The Washington Post in December 2022. In particular, he acknowledged that the Ukrainian military had even conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates at the dam, making holes to see how high the Dnieper waters could be raised.

"On March 14, 2023, Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Novaya Kakhovka district, stated that not only does the hydro power plant come under regular shelling, but also the sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Ukrainian armed forces make regular attempts to penetrate into its premises and dam. According to him, snipers are also very active, making repair and maintenance work at the hydraulic facilities impossible," the statement said.

On June 6, the Ukrainian military launched a missile attack on the Kakhovka Hydro Power Plant, which resulted in the destruction of gate sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. There are 35 communities in the flood zone, and residents of the nearby populated localities are being evacuated. According to updates, eight people have died (two of them were killed as a result of Ukrainian shelling of the evacuation point), and more than 60 have been hospitalized.

The destruction of the hydro power plant has caused serious environmental damage, with farmlands along the Dnieper River being washed away. On top of that, there is a risk that the North Crimean Canal may run low and become too shallow.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the strike on the Kakhovka Hydro Power Plant as an act of deliberate sabotage by Ukrainian forces, adding that the Kiev regime should bear all of the responsibility for its consequences.