KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine called on Tuesday for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss what it called a “Russian terrorist attack” on the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine.
It also said it wanted the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s board of governors to discuss the incident and demanded new international sanctions on Russia, in particular on the Russian missile industry and nuclear sector.
Ukrainian and Russian officials blamed each other for Tuesday’s breach of the Russian-controlled dam, which prompted the evacuation of people living in the vicinity of the dam.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the situation after water burst through the Soviet-era dam in the early hours. “We can state unequivocally that we are talking about deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side,” Peskov told reporters. “The Kyiv regime should bear full responsibility for all the consequences.”
“We consider the Russian Federation’s detonation of the dam…a terrorist act against Ukrainian critical infrastructure, which aims to cause as many civilian casualties and (as much) destruction as possible,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“The terrorist attack on the Kakhovka HPP (hydroelectric power plant) was previously intensely discussed at the level of the occupation forces in the Kherson region (of southern Ukraine) and propagandists on Russian television, which indicates that it was planned in advance.”
The ministry urged the international community to condemn Russia over the incident and said Moscow should pay compensation for the consequences.
“We also appeal to the countries of the Group of Seven and the EU to urgently consider the imposition of new far-reaching sanctions on the Russian Federation, in particular, related to the Russian missile industry and the nuclear sector,” it said.
It said a list of actions drawn up by the ministry “includes the convening by Ukraine of an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and bringing the issue of the Russian terrorist attack to the meeting of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors”.
It also called for the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism to be engaged. A country can request assistance through the mechanism when facing an emergency.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
