MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. Several tuberculosis cases registered in a zone around the collapsed Kakhovka Hydropower Plant (HPP) are not linked with the flooding, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

On Thursday, he met with chief of Russia’s Federal Medical Biological Agency Veronika Skvortsova, who told the president that several TB cases had been found while examining people in this area.

"They are not linked with the flood. These cases have been found during the medical examination of people, haven’t they?" Putin asked. Skvotrsova answered in the affirmative. According to her, medical examination of people among those evacuated are accommodated at temporary accommodation centers was necessary to prevent possible infections.

On the morning of June 6, the Ukrainian military launched a missile attack on the Kakhovka HPP, which resulted in the destruction of gate sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. Water levels in Novaya Kakhovka rose to 12 meters and now the water is subsiding. There are 35 communities in the flood zone. People are being evacuated from flooded areas. According to the latest data, eight people are reported to have died and more than 60 taken to the hospital. The destruction of the hydro power plant has caused serious environmental damage with farmlands along the Dnieper River being washed away. Additionally, there is a risk that the North Crimean Canal may run low and become too shallow.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the strike on the Kakhovka dam as an act of deliberate sabotage by Ukrainian forces, adding that the Kiev regime should bear full responsibility for its consequences.