MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. Water in Novaya Kakhovka is safe to use for drinking and cooking, according to daily analyses done by local laboratories, Mayor Vladimir Leontyev said on the RBC television channel on Saturday.

"The water in the city, based on daily analyses carried out in our laboratories, is safe to use and to drink," he 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.