June 6, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The Kremlin said it “strongly rejects” accusations that Russia is responsible for damaging a sprawling dam and hydro-electric power plant in southern occupied Ukraine, as Kyiv and Moscow traded accusations over the destruction of the dam.

On a regular call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he “unequivocally” believes the incident was “deliberate sabotage” by Ukraine, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin was being kept informed about the situation.

Peskov claimed the attack was “planned and carried out by order received from Kyiv, from the Kyiv regime. The Kyiv regime must bear full responsibility for all the consequences.”  

He claimed Ukraine wanted to “deprive Crimea of water” and to distract from the battlefield.

Peskov said: "Having launched large-scale offensive operations two days ago, now the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not achieving their goals. These offensive actions are choking.”

Some context: Multiple senior Ukrainian officials and military figures accused the Kremlin of sabotaging the dam on Tuesday, saying Russian forces destroyed the dam “in panic."

This incident occurred a day after Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said a Ukrainian offensive is “taking place in several directions,” heightening speculation that a major push by Kyiv to recapture land held by Russia’s occupying forces could be getting underway.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the collapse of a crucial dam and hydro-electric power plant in the Russian-occupied Kherson region demonstrates "the brutality of Russia's war in Ukraine."

"The destruction of the Kakhovka dam today puts thousands of civilians at risk and causes severe environmental damage," Stoltenberg tweeted on Tuesday.

"This is an outrageous act, which demonstrates once again the brutality of #Russia’s war in #Ukraine."

Stoltenberg is in the Slovakian capital Bratislava for a meeting of the "Bucharest Nine," the group of Eastern flank NATO allies -- Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Western allies of Ukraine, including the transatlantic military alliance, have remained key supporters of Kyiv during the conflict by donating military aid or imposing sanctions against Russia.

CNN’s Olga Voitovych and Sophie Jeong contributed reporting.

Ukraine's energy ministry said the collapse of a major dam and hydro-electric power plant in Russian-occupied Kherson has caused "no threats" to the country's electricity supply amid fears of large-scale devastation.

The overnight incident at the Nova Kakhovka dam in the southern region has not directly affected nationwide power systems but regional power supplies are at risk due to flooding, the ministry said in a statement. 

It said: “There are no threats to the stability of electricity supply. The generated electricity is sufficient to cover the needs of consumers.” 

Nearly 12,000 people in the Kherson region have lost power due to flooding “and there may be problems with water supply," the statement added. “Preventive anti-crisis measures are being prepared.” 

Further east, the ministry said "there is no direct threat" to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant despite the “gradual decrease in the water level” at spent fuel cooling ponds. The plant in the southeastern region lies upstream from the destroyed dam and is also under Russian control.

Water levels in areas close to the Dnipro River have reached 12 meters (39 feet) following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydro-electric power plant early Tuesday.

The Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontyev, said the settlements of Tsyurupinsk and Golaya Pier "are being flooded," according to a Telegram post from the local press service.

“In these settlements there is no electricity and water — the inhabitants are left by themselves,” he said.

The critical Nova Kakhovka dam spans the Dnipro River and supplies water for much of southeastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

It also supplies water to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which lies upstream and is also under Russian control.

Multiple senior Ukrainian officials and military figures have accused Russia of sabotaging the dam but Russian authorities deny the allegation.

Separately, in an interview with Russian state TV Russia 24, Leontyev said evacuations of homes located along the Dnipro River in Nova Kakhovka are underway.

A Russian-appointed governor in Kherson said a "large-scale evacuation" of residents will not be necessary after floods of water rolled from a dam and hydro-electric power plant that collapsed in the southern region of Ukraine.

According to Saldo, the destruction of the dam led to "a large, but not critical" amount of water flowing down the Dnipro River, which caused the washout of agricultural fields along the coast and disruption of civilian infrastructure. 

Kyiv and Moscow have exchanged blame over the collapse of the dam, which Ukrainian military intelligence claimed Moscow blew up "in panic" over Ukraine's expected summer offensive.

Some background: The dam spans the Dnipro River — a huge waterway running through southeastern Ukraine and there are multiple towns and cities downstream, including Kherson, a city of some 300,000 people before Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.

Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor, said the incident “will not prevent our military from defending the left bank.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said evacuations have been ordered with immediate effect after a sprawling dam and hydro-electric power plant in the Russian-occupied Kherson region collapsed early Tuesday.

There are “about 80 settlements in the flood zone,” Zelensky posted on Telegram following an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defence Council.

He went on to lay out the timeline of events before stressing that all towns and villages in the region must be supplied with water.

Zelensky said the explosion occurred at 2:50 a.m. local time (7:50 p.m. ET) when "Russian terrorists carried out an internal explosion of the structures of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant."

Russian authorities have denied their involvement in the breach of the Nova Kakhova dam.

A total of 885 people have been evacuated from the region so far amid fears of widespread devastation.

Ukraine's Interior Ministry said earlier that Ukrainian authorities were helping people in the liberated west bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson, adding they "are worried" about people in the occupied east bank.

Flooding from the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam will not affect residents of Crimea, according to the Moscow-backed head of the peninsula's administration. 

The dam supplied water for much of the peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. 

Russia-installed official Sergey Aksenov said a canal that connects the reservoir to Crimea will “become shallow,” but currently there are 40 million cubic meters of reserves in the waterway.

Aksenov said efforts are being made to minimize the disruption to Crimea's water supply and “there is more than enough drinking water” currently.

Some context: Crimea has had a history of water supply issues since it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, after Ukraine cut the water supply. Russian forces captured the North Crimea Canal and began restoring the water supply to the peninsula in the days immediately following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

A senior Ukrainian military official said settlements on the banks of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region are starting to experience flooding following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam early Tuesday.

As water in the Kakhovka reservoir continues to rapidly gush out, Ukrainian officials have warned the levels will be "critically high" in a matter of hours. The reservoir typically holds around 18 cubic kilometers of water, about equal to the Great Salt Lake in the US state of Utah, according to Reuters.

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration, said in a statement on Telegram Tuesday that around 16,000 people on the west bank of the river are in a "critical zone."

As of 7:30 am local time (12:30 a.m. ET), the following settlements are fully or partially flooded, according to Prokudin:

About 80 settlements, most of which are occupied by Russian forces, are in the zone of potential flooding, Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs said earlier.

"We understand that other settlements will be flooded, and we are ready for this,” Prokudin added.

Evacuations: More than 700 Kherson residents have already been evacuated, according to Ukrainian officials. Prokudin said they would first be taken to Kherson city, "then to Mykolaiv and from there to Khmelnytskyi, Odesa, Kropyvnytskyi, Kyiv and other cities."

A total of 742 residents have been evacuated in the Kherson region after a major dam and hydro-electric power plant was destroyed there early Tuesday, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The ministry said Ukrainian authorities were helping people in the liberated west bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson.

About 80 settlements, most of which are occupied by Russian forces, are in the zone of potential flooding, according to the ministry.

Ukrainian Railways is helping authorities to evacuate residents from Kherson.