White House: 'We cannot say conclusively who is responsible for Kakhovka dam breach.'

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration "cannot say conclusively" who was responsible for the breach of the Kakhovka dam, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told[1] the media on June 6. "We've seen the reports that Russia was responsible for the explosion at the dam, which I would remind, Russian forces took over illegally last year, and have been occupying since then.

We're doing the best we can to assess those reports," Bloomberg cited[2] Kirby. While it is too soon to know how the event will affect Ukraine's planned counteroffensive, it is clear that it will cause significant damage to the Ukrainian people and the region, Kirby said. Ukraine's Southern Operational Command reported[3] early in the morning of June 6 that Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine's Kherson Oblast, causing massive flooding of villages downstream of the Dnipro River.

Official: Ukraine not responsible for Kakhovka explosion, 'Russia's claims are nonsense'

National Security and Defense Council chief Oleksii Danilov said that Ukraine had nothing to do with the explosion at the Kakhovka dam, Ukrinform reported on June 6. All Russia's claims about Ukraine's involvement are nonsense, he added.

[4]

The Russia-installed proxy in Nova Kakhovka first denied that the dam was destroyed, only to claim later that it was targeted by Ukrainian shelling. National Security and Defense Council chief Oleksii Danilov called[5] Russia's claims of Ukraine's complicity in the dam's destruction "nonsense."

According to Danilov, Russia prepared plans for the sabotage of the dam[6] already in the fall of 2022. The Kremlin decided to execute them now in order to hinder Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive, he added.

Martin Fornusek

News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press.

He also volunteers as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukrainer.

Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

References

  1. ^ told (www.nbcnews.com)
  2. ^ cited (www.bnnbloomberg.ca)
  3. ^ reported (kyivindependent.com)
  4. ^ Official: Ukraine not responsible for Kakhovka explosion, 'Russia's claims are nonsense'National Security and Defense Council chief Oleksii Danilov said that Ukraine had nothing to do with the explosion at the Kakhovka dam, Ukrinform reported on June 6.

    All Russia's claims about Ukraine's involvement are nonsense, he added. (kyivindependent.com)

  5. ^ called (kyivindependent.com)
  6. ^ prepared plans for the sabotage of the dam (kyivindependent.com)

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