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Ukraine faces attacks and blackouts as Russia’s war continues | CNN
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned that Russia’s assaults on Ukraine’s vitality infrastructure are geared toward creating a brand new wave of refugees.
Chatting with the European Council in a video handle, Zelensky mentioned after failing to make use of vitality assets as a weapon towards Europe, “the present Russian management has ordered to show the vitality system itself right into a battlefield. The implications of this are very harmful, once more for all of us in Europe.”
“Assaults by Russian cruise missiles and Iranian assault drones have destroyed greater than a 3rd of our vitality infrastructure,” he mentioned. “Due to this, sadly, we will not export electrical energy that will help you preserve stability.”
Days of devastating Russian assaults on vitality infrastructure have induced the nation to lose a minimum of 40% of its power-generating capability. Ukrainian officers warned earlier this week that each emergency and scheduled blackouts would observe.
Zelensky added: “Russia can also be upsetting a brand new wave of migration of Ukrainians to the EU international locations. Russia’s terror towards our vitality amenities is geared toward creating as many issues with electrical energy and warmth in Ukraine as potential this autumn and winter and making as many Ukrainians as potential depart on your international locations.”
Essential dam mined: Zelensky additionally claimed that Russia was creating grounds for a large-scale disaster within the south of Ukraine, with Russian forces mining a crucial dam on the Dnipro river within the southern Kherson area, in addition to the adjoining hydroelectric plant.
“We have now info that Russian terrorists have mined the dam and models of the Kakhovka hydroelectric energy plant,” Zelensky informed the Council of Europe throughout a video handle.
“The dam of this hydroelectric energy plant holds about 18 million cubic meters of water.
“If Russian terrorists blow up this dam, greater than 80 settlements, together with Kherson, will probably be within the zone of speedy flooding. A whole lot of 1000’s of individuals could endure. Water provide to a big a part of southern Ukraine might be destroyed. This Russian terrorist assault might depart Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant with out water for cooling – water for ZNPP is taken from the Kakhovka reservoir. “
CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Protection for a response to the allegations.
The dam and hydroelectric plant have been working at much-reduced capability as the world was captured by Russian forces in March. Ukrainian forces are some 40 kilometers (greater than 24 miles) north of the dam. Over the previous 4 months, they’ve launched a number of strikes towards the bridge that kinds a part of the dam to forestall its use by the Russian army.
Individually, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the top of the Ukrainian President’s workplace, mentioned on Twitter Thursday that Russia deliberate to mine the dam and transformers, forcing the deportation of Ukrainian civilians from Kherson and flooding territory to cease the Ukrainian counteroffensive within the area. The land to the south and east of the river is low-lying.
“Russia is getting ready a man-made disaster,” Podolyak mentioned.
What pro-Moscow officers are saying: The Russian-appointed head of the Nova Kakhovka administrative district, Vladimir Leontiev, informed Russian state media TASS that it is mindless for Russia to destroy the dam of the facility station.
“What’s the level for Russia to destroy it now? Even from a proper standpoint, that is nonsense. That is absolute nonsense,” Leontiev mentioned.
“To start with, it’s essential to take into consideration who advantages from it: it is just useful for Ukraine to destroy the dam, the hydroelectric energy station, to disrupt logistics, to sow concern and panic, to cease the potential for supplying water by the North Crimean Canal to the territory of Crimea,” he mentioned, in response to TASS.
