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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are aimed at creating a new wave of refugees.
Speaking to the European Council in a video address, Zelensky said after failing to use energy resources as a weapon against Europe, “the current Russian leadership has given the order to turn the energy system itself into a battlefield. The consequences of this are very dangerous, again for all of us in Europe.”
“Attacks by Russian cruise missiles and Iranian attack drones have destroyed more than a third of our energy infrastructure,” he said. “Because of this, unfortunately, we can no longer export electricity to help you maintain stability.”
Days of devastating Russian attacks on energy infrastructure have caused the nation to lose at least 40% of its production capacity. Ukrainian officials warned earlier this week that both emergency and planned blackouts would follow.
Zelensky added: “Russia is also causing a new wave of migration of Ukrainians to EU countries. Russia’s terror against our energy facilities is aimed at creating as many problems with electricity and heat in Ukraine this autumn and winter and to make as many Ukrainians as possible leave for your countries.”
Critical dam mined: Zelensky also claimed Russia was setting the stage for a large-scale disaster in southern Ukraine, with Russian forces mining a critical dam on the Dnipro River in the southern Kherson region, as well as the adjacent hydroelectric station.
“We have information that Russian terrorists have mined the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and units,” Zelensky told the Council of Europe during a video conference.
“The dam of this hydroelectric plant holds about 18 million cubic meters of water.
“If Russian terrorists blow up this dam, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be in the flash flood zone. Hundreds of thousands of people may suffer. The water supply to much of southern Ukraine could be destroyed. This Russian terrorist attack could leave the Zaporizhzhia NPP without cooling water – water for the ZNPP is taken from the Kakhovka Reservoir. ”
A satellite image shows a view of the Kakhovka Dam site, right, and the surrounding area in Kherson, Ukraine, on October 18. European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A/Reuters CNN reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for a response to the allegations.
The dam and hydroelectric plant are operating at greatly reduced capacity as the area was captured by Russian forces in March. Ukrainian forces are about 40 kilometers (more than 24 miles) north of the dam. Over the past four months, they have launched several strikes against the bridge that is part of the dam to prevent it from being used by the Russian military.
Separately, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said on Twitter on Thursday that Russia planned to mine the dam and transformers, forcing the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians from Kherson and flooded lands to stop a Ukrainian counteroffensive. in the area. The land to the south and east of the river is low.
“Russia is preparing a man-made disaster,” Podolyak said.
What pro-Moscow officials say: The Russian-appointed head of the Nova Kakhovka administrative district, Vladimir Leontiev, told Russian state media TASS that there is no point in Russia destroying the power plant’s dam.
“What’s the point of Russia destroying it now? Even from a formal point of view, this is nonsense. This is absolute nonsense,” Leontief said.
“First of all, you need to think about who benefits from this: it is beneficial for Ukraine to destroy the dam, the hydroelectric station, disrupt logistics, sow fear and panic, stop the possibility of water supply through the Northern Channel of Crimea to the territory of Crimea,” he said, according to TASS.
Tetyana Safonova, 61, sits with her cat Asya as she looks at her mobile phone during a power outage on October 20, 2022 in Borodyanka, Ukraine. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images Cars drive on a dark street during energy conservation on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
