The mayor of Nova Kakhovka reported seven people missing after the destruction of the hydroelectric power station

In Novaya Kakhovka, they are looking for at least seven people who disappeared after flooding due to the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station on June 6. This was announced by the head of the city district Vladimir Leontiev.

“We are now finding out information on the missing, but, preliminary, these people were also evacuated from the flood zones that ceased to exist – the islands. Shepherds were there. <...> About seven people we know for sure,” he said (quote by Interfax).

Leontiev clarified that now the representatives of the operational headquarters are “circling” these territories. According to the official, the level of water rise below Novaya Kakhovka remains “very significant.” In the city itself, the water level has already dropped by 35 cm.

The district authorities took out about 900 people from the flooded territories per day, Leontiev added. According to him, the damage assessment begins.

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 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).

Russian 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 what happened is a deliberate sabotage, and linked it to the “unsuccessful counteroffensive” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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