The blowing up of the Kakhovka dam marks a new low point in the Russian offensive war. Moscow and Kiev blame each other. While thousands of people and animals suffer, Turkey now wants to mediate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seeking an international inquiry into the dam breach. When Ukraine regains control of the dam, it will invite international experts to investigate the incident, he said in an interview with Axel Springer Group newspapers on Wednesday. According to him, Russia’s responsibility for the disaster had been proven. “It happened in occupied territory.”
A year ago, Zelenskyy pointed out that the dam was being mined and there was a high risk of it being blown up. The breach cannot have been caused by shelling. He assumes that Russia has underestimated his performance. “They didn’t think they would also flood their occupied territories.”
The incident also affected the counter-offensive. “What is happening now is a tragedy. An environmental disaster and a human disaster. That doesn’t help us with the counteroffensive, it doesn’t make the counteroffensive any easier.”
Zelenskyy also denied his country’s involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline attack. “I am president and I give orders accordingly. Ukraine has done nothing of the sort. I would never behave like that,” he said. Zelenskyj demanded that evidence be presented: “If our army would have done this, show us evidence.”
Putin blames Kiev
Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the explosion at the Kakhovka dam. In his first public statement on Wednesday about the dam breach in southern Ukraine, Putin called it a “barbaric act” by Kiev. This caused “an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe on a massive scale,” Putin said in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Kremlin.
Erdogan also proposed a committee of inquiry in separate phone calls with Putin and Zelensky on Wednesday, the president’s office in Ankara said. Such a committee could be staffed with experts from the two warring sides, as well as representatives from Turkey and the United Nations and thus could have a similar set-up to the so-called grain deal, it said.
In July 2022, the United Nations and Turkey reached an agreement that ended Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain.
“Sanitary-ecological catastrophe”
According to Maxim Soroka, a Ukrainian environmentalist with the non-governmental organization Dovkola Network, more than 180,000 people have lost access to clean drinking water due to the dam’s destruction. He said the result would be a “sanitary-ecological catastrophe”.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
