Russia refutes Ukraine's claim that it's mining & preparing to 'blow up' Nova Kakhovka dam

Russia on Saturday refuted allegations that its armed forces were mining the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam located in Ukraine’s southern Kherson Oblast. Deputy head of the regional administration in Kherson appointed by Moscow told RIA news agency that the Ukrainian allegations about the mining of the dam at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in the city of Nova Kakhovka "is not true." Ukrainian armed forces have been making steady advancements in the recently-annexed Kherson. Moscow-installed authorities in the oblast began evacuating Ukrainians under mysterious circumstances. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at the European leaders meeting in Brussels via video link that Russia mined the dam and was preparing to blow it in order to trigger a devastating flood as it is located on the Dnieper River. The assault, he warned, might incur thousands of civilian casualties. 

"We have information that Russians mined the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant," Zelensky said in his address. 

Ukrainian operator, Ukrgydroenergo, says on the website that the dam has a capacity of 334.8 megawatts and stores up to 18 million cubic meters of water. It can cause flash flooding in as many as 80 settlements, including the regional capital Kherson, according to Zelenskyy. 

The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam was captured by the invading Russian military at the beginning of the invasion. The plant is of strategic importance to Moscow as it supplies water to the Crimean peninsula which was annexed by Moscow in 2014. In the same video address, Zelenskyy also accused Russia of "deliberately delaying" and blocking the transit of the Ukrainian vessels carrying grain under an UN-brokered deal. While they are mining the dam, there are 150 vessels with Ukrainian grain backlogged, waiting to be loaded, Ukraine's embattled leader claimed. 

"This is an artificial queue. It only arose because Russia is deliberately delaying the passage of the ships," he asserted. 

Moscow's ambassador lambasts Ukraine for 'terrible provocations' at plant

Alleging that the Ukrainian forces have been launching over 100 missiles daily targeted at the power plant in the Kherson region, Russia asked the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to "prevent Ukraine's terrible provocations". Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the blowing up of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam in Ukraine’s southern Kherson Oblast would create a “large-scale disaster". He blamed the Russian armed forces for repeatedly hitting the site. 

Russia refuted claims that it was preparing a false-flag attack and instead appealed to the UN to hold Ukraine's military accountable. Any disaster at the plant might end up in the deaths of civilians and the destruction of several homes, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia warned. Furthermore, he told the UNSC that the West ignores “any criminal acts” committed by Ukraine. Nebenzia informed the UNSC that the recent attacks were being carried out by Ukraine with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).