Biden: US will continue to provide assistance to Ukraine after the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station

The United States will not leave Ukraine and will continue to provide assistance to Kyiv after the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. This statement was made by US President Joe Biden in response to a request to comment on the incident.

“We are not going anywhere. We will help Ukraine,” said He.

Formerly White House National Security Council (NSC) Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby declaredthat Washington does not yet have evidence of the involvement of Russia or Ukraine in undermining the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station.

The breakthrough of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station occurred on the night of June 6. As a result, an uncontrolled discharge of water began. The level of water rise in Novaya Kakhovka has increased by 11 m, Mayor Vladimir Leontiev reported. A local state of emergency (ES) was introduced on the territory of the district. On the fact of the incident, the Investigative Committee of Russia aroused criminal case of a terrorist attack.

According to the Russian side, the cause of the incident at the HPP became shelling that resulted in the destruction of three spans by water pressure. The administration of the Novokakhovsk urban district stated that, presumably, the blow was delivered by the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the Alder MLRS (RS-2).

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu laid responsible for the incident on Kyiv, saying that the Ukrainian side had blown up the constructions of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station. In the Kremlin declaredthat the incident is a deliberate sabotage, and linked the incident with the “unsuccessful counter-offensive” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Ukraine blames Russia for the destruction of the station. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the country will also convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council because of the situation around the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station.

The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, wrote on social networks that he was “shocked” by the breakthrough of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station and would raise the topic at the EU summit in late June. Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya declaredthat Russia will convene a meeting of the organization’s Security Council in connection with the destruction of the hydroelectric power station.