MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. More than 7,500 people have been evacuated from Kherson Region settlement, which were flooded after Ukraine’s strike on the Kakhovka Hydropower Plant (HPP), the press service of the Russian emergencies ministry said on Thursday.

"More than 7,500 people (7,525), including 461 children and 146 mobility-impaired persons. Have been evacuated from affected areas. As many as 2,244 people have been rescued," it said, adding that after water levels subsided, mobility-impaired patients were evacuated from a hospital in one of the affected settlements.

According to the ministry, a total of 1,764 people, including 461 children, have been allocated at temporary allocation centers.

Rescuers continue pumping water from houses and basements. Monitoring teams are assessing damage. Houses and households are being disinfected to prevent possible outbreaks of infectious diseases.

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.