Geneva (BLAZETRENDS).- The circumstances of the rupture, this week, of the Kajovka dam, in southern Ukraine, are not “still fully clarified”, so it is “premature” to consider this catastrophe a war crime .
This was stated today by a spokesman for the United Nations Office for Human Rights at a press conference in which he reiterated the agency’s call for an “independent and impartial” investigation of that disaster to be carried out in the lower course of the Dnieper River.
The spokesman, Jeremy Laurence, has also asked the Russian authorities to allow the access of UN agencies and humanitarian organizations to the territories occupied by Russia in the flooded area, in order to know the effects of the catastrophe as well. on the left bank of the river.
A deliberate attack on civilian infrastructure can be considered a war crime under international law, and United Nations fact-finding missions to Ukraine have previously accused the Russian invaders of this type of human rights violations for more than 15 years. months of war
Ukrainian publishes a recording that would prove Russian sabotage at the dam
Pending the independent investigation called for by the UN, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) today released a recording of what it says is a conversation between two Russian soldiers, in which the participants say they are aware of the presence of a Russian “sabotage group” that blew up the Kakhovka dam “to scare” the Ukrainians.
“It is not they (the Ukrainians) who have attacked. A sabotage group of ours is there. They wanted to scare them with this prey. It didn’t go according to plan, it was worse than they planned”, says the conversation published this Friday by the kyiv secret service.
Russia has denied any responsibility and accuses “the kyiv authorities” of destroying the dam.
Ukraine, for its part, assures that the blasting of the dam with explosives could only be carried out from inside the infrastructure, to which only the Russian occupation forces have access.
Four dead, 13 missing and more than 2,400 evacuated in Kherson
The latest balance offered by the Kiev government puts at least 4 deaths, 13 missing and more than 2,000 evacuees in the part of the Kherson region controlled by Ukraine, as a result of the floods caused by the destruction of the dam.
The overflow has also flooded 48 towns and more than 3,625 houses.
In addition, 11 people were injured on Thursday by Russian shelling as residents and authorities tried to evacuate those affected on the west bank of the Dnieper River.
The flooding caused by the destruction of the dam has also inundated 23 towns in the Ukrainian province of Mikolayiv, neighboring Kherson.
The water level in the Kakhovka dam has dropped another meter in the past 24 hours to 11.74 meters, and is still falling, according to the Ukrainian public hydroelectric company Ukrhydroenergo.
Furthermore, half of the station building is under water as well as the dam between the lock and the station, and it continues to deteriorate.