Russia holds West responsible for dam disaster – UN envoy

Sponsors encouraged Kiev to carry out its “terrorist” plans, the Russian envoy told the Security Council.

Ukraine destroyed the Kakhovka dam in an “unthinkable crime” intended to harm Crimea for choosing Russia in 2014, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council on Tuesday.

The Russian diplomat brought up US media reports documenting the Ukrainian attacks on the Kakhovka dam in December 2022, using the US-supplied HIMARS rockets.

“Feeling its total impunity and being encouraged by Western sponsors, the Kiev regime decided to carry out this terrorist plot this time,” Nebenzia said. He noted that the Ukrainians had significantly increased the discharge of water from the Dnepropetrovsk hydroelectric power station, leading to even greater flooding downstream, “which indicates that this sabotage was planned in advance.”

The terrorist act was intended to free up Ukrainian forces for the “counter-offensive” currently getting bogged down in Zaporozhye, while inflicting massive humanitarian damage on the population of Kherson Region, Nebenzia said.

Ukraine destroyed the Kakhovka dam in an “unthinkable crime” intended to harm Crimea for choosing Russia in 2014, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council on Tuesday.

The Russian diplomat brought up US media reports documenting the Ukrainian attacks on the Kakhovka dam in December 2022, using the US-supplied HIMARS rockets.

“Feeling its total impunity and being encouraged by Western sponsors, the Kiev regime decided to carry out this terrorist plot this time,” Nebenzia said. He noted that the Ukrainians had significantly increased the discharge of water from the Dnepropetrovsk hydroelectric power station, leading to even greater flooding downstream, “which indicates that this sabotage was planned in advance.”

The terrorist act was intended to free up Ukrainian forces for the “counter-offensive” currently getting bogged down in Zaporozhye, while inflicting massive humanitarian damage on the population of Kherson Region, Nebenzia said.

According to the Russian envoy, Kiev has fully embraced terrorist tactics, from the bombing of the Crimean Bridge to the targeted assassinations of journalists Darya Dugina and Vladlen Tatarsky, and the attempt on Zakhar Prilepin – which none of the Western governments said a word to condemn.

“The Kiev regime has good teachers, responsible for destroying the Nord Stream [pipeline] and the deliberate targeting of the Tabqa dam in Syria. The West is used to doing the dirty work with other people’s hands,” the Russian envoy told the Security Council.

“We also do not rule out an attempt at provocation against the Zaporozhye NPP,” Nebenzia said, given that the UN has persistently refused to condemn Ukrainian attacks on the facility, “although it is obvious to everyone which side they are coming from.”