World Bank set to conduct rapid assessment of damage at Kakhovka HPP

World June 08, 2023, 5:49

Anna Bjerde, the World Bank’s managing director for operations, announced that the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP’s dam would entail "many very serious consequences for essential service delivery and the broader environment"

WASHINGTON, June 8. /TASS/. The World Bank is set to conduct a rapid assessment of the damage caused by the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant disaster, which will entail serious consequences, Anna Bjerde, the World Bank’s managing director for operations, said on Thursday.

Bjerde announced on her Twitter account (a social network outlawed in Russia) that the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP’s dam would entail "many very serious consequences for essential service delivery and the broader environment."

On June 6, Ukrainian forces delivered a strike on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), presumably from an Olkha multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). The shelling destroyed the hydraulic sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water.

In Novaya Kakhovka, the water level exceeded 12 meters at one point, but is now receding. There are currently 35 population centers in the flood zone; residents of nearby towns and villages are being evacuated.

The collapse of the hydro plant's dam has caused serious environmental damage. Farmlands along the Dnieper River have been washed away, and there is a risk that the North Crimean Canal will become shallow.

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 full responsibility for the consequences.

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