On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Nova Kakhovka dam sabotage for the first time in public comments blaming the Ukrainian government and military for the “barbaric act.” Putin’s comments came after the Russian defense and foreign ministries had accused Ukraine of the “catastrophic” attack.
On Tuesday, an explosion at the Nova Kakhovka dam, which sits on the Dnipro River in the Russian-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, unleashed a massive wall of water flooding Kherson city, Kakhovka, and 80 villages located downstream of the dam. Upstream, many residents have suddenly found themselves with an unstable water supply The apocalyptic event has also led to the loss of power for some 12,000 residents in the area as the Ministry of Energy has proactively been cutting power to customers as there are concerns about maintaining the water levels in the cooling pools for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest.