Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, charged Russia with planning to blow up a dam to flood a sizable portion of Kherson in southern Ukraine as its soldiers are being compelled to evacuate.
According to Zelensky, this was a plot by the adversary nation to mine the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station upstream of Kherson.
He announced this in a nighttime video on Thursday, claiming that the country would suffer catastrophically if the dam were to be destroyed.
Zelensky said, “Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster. If Russia is preparing such a terrorist attack, if it is seriously considering such a scenario, it means the terrorists are clearly aware that they will not be able to keep not only Kherson but also the entire south of our country, including Crimea.”
He then called for a “preventive response” to discourage Russia from causing what would be a humanitarian crisis for the civilian population and could also deprive the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station of the water needed to cool its reactors.
“We must now all together — all Europeans, all world leaders, all international organizations — make it clear to the terrorist state that such a terrorist attack on the Kakhovka HPP will mean exactly the same as the use of weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “The consequences for Russia should be corresponding.”