Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy aide blames Russia for blowing up dam; White House ‘assessing’ if attack is war crime | Russia

Here’s where things stand on a day in the Ukraine war dominated by news of the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam following an explosion:

• Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff says he ‘does not understand’ how there are any doubts that Russian forces blew up the dam. In a statement, Andriy Yermak said: “At 2.50am, Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station and its dam. I do not understand how there can be any doubt about this. Both constructions are located in the temporary Russian-occupied territories. Neither shelling nor any other external influence was capable of destroying the structures. The explosion came from within.”

• The Kremlin accuses Ukraine of deliberately sabotaging the dam. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, told reporters: “We can state unequivocally that we are talking about deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side.” He said [Russian president] Vladimir Putin had been briefed on the situation.

• The US “cannot say conclusively” who was responsible. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House: “We’re doing the best we can to assess”, noting “destruction of civilian infrastructure is not allowed by the laws of war”. Earlier Tuesday, NBC News reported that the US government had intelligence indicating Russia was behind the incident, according to two US officials and one western official.

• The Ukrainian government called for people living downstream to evacuate in the face of catastrophic flooding. Energy company Ukrahydroenergo said the hydroelectric power plant at the dam had been blown up from the inside and was irreparable.

• The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said about 16,000 people were in the “critical zone” on the Ukrainian-controlled right bank of the river.

• The areas most under threat of flooding are the islands along the course of the Dnipro downstream of Nova Kakhovka and much of the Russian-held left bank in southern Kherson. Andrey Alekseyenko, one of the Russian-installed officials in occupied Kherson, has posted to Telegram to say that up to 22,000 people are in the flood plains in Russian-controlled territory.

• Ukraine’s foreign ministry called for an urgent meeting of UN security council to discuss what it called a Russian “terrorist act against Ukrainian critical infrastructure”.

• There seems to be no immediate safety threat to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam 200km downstream, according to Ukrainian and UN experts. Water from the reservoir affected by the destruction of the dam is used to supply the plant’s cooling systems.

• The British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, who is in Ukraine, blamed the destruction on Russia’s invasion. “I’ve heard reports of the explosion on the dam and the risk of flooding. It’s too early to make any kind of meaningful assessment of the details,” he said.

Here’s what you need to know about the dam:

John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, has just spoken at the White House, and says the US is “assessing” the attack on the Nova Kakhovk dam.

He was asked if the Biden administration considers it a war crime:

I don’t have a determination on that to speak to today. I would just say we’re still trying to assess what happened here, but the Russians had illegally taken over that dam in the reservoir many months ago, and they were occupying it when this explosion happened.

It’s very clear that the deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure is not allowed by the laws of war, and in the additional protocol to the Geneva Convention that the Russians have themselves signed, destruction of civilian infrastructure, such as dams, are clearly articulated in their violations of that code.

But again, we haven’t made a decision. We’re still talking to the Ukrainians.

Kirby is also promising that more support for Ukraine will be coming in short order as a potential “repercussion” of the attack:

I guarantee you, you’re gonna see additional security assistance packages in coming days and weeks. We’re going to continue to make sure that Ukraine can succeed on the battlefield, as President Biden has said.

If Russia is concerned about Ukrainian military capabilities, best thing that they can do would be to leave Ukraine.

We have made our concerns about strikes inside Russia very clear to Ukrainian officials. They’ve acknowledged that and they have assured us that they won’t use US-made equipment to strike inside Russia.

We don’t want to see the war escalate and, and there’s no apologies for that. But I won’t go into detail about the private discussions that we’re having with with Ukrainians.

Exclusive: Zelenskiy chief of staff says he ‘does not understand’ how there are any doubts Russian forces blew up Nova Kakhovka dam

Dan Sabbagh

Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said he “did not understand” how there could be any doubt about whether Russian forces blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam. In a statement given to the Guardian, the senior aide said the dam could not have been destroyed through shelling or “any other external influence” – while another adviser to the president said the attack amounted to a war crime.

In the statement, Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, said: “At 2:50am this morning, Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric Station and its dam. I do not understand how there can be any doubt about this. Both constructions are located in the temporary Russian-occupied territories. Neither shelling nor any other external influence was capable of destroying the structures. The explosion came from within.

“We know that Russian troops had mined the hydroelectric Station in the early days of the full-scale invasion, so the pre-meditated blast is the only plausible explanation. Any alternative theories are nothing less than false Russian propaganda narratives.”

Dasha Zarivna, a senior adviser in the Ukrainian presidential office, who was born and raised in Kherson, said: “The dam bombing is another unprecedented Russian war crime against Ukraine, which will have catastrophic consequences both for its population and other countries. These include environmental and economic consequences, a great risk from radiation and further serious disruption to food security.

“Last October, President Zelenskiy said: ‘All the world leaders should let Russia understand that a terrorist attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric station will be equated to the use of weapons of mass destruction’. Now it has happened. World leaders must recognise the equivalence, and now must act decisively. It is essential to isolate the terrorist state as completely as possible. Any economic ties with Russia outside of humanitarian activities should be regarded as complicity in its war crimes.”