Zelensky: The International Criminal Court begins an investigation into the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that work had already begun on an investigation by the International Criminal Court into… Destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Dam And the massive flood that caused it.

“Representatives of the International Criminal Court have visited the Kherson region in recent days,” Zelensky added in his videotaped evening address.

“On the first day after the disaster, the Public Prosecutor’s Office sent a request to the International Criminal Court on the investigation into this disaster and work has already begun,” he said.

He added that it is important for international legal experts to see the repercussions of the disaster, including incidents of bombing of flooded areas. Officials said three people were killed on Sunday in Russian shelling of boats carrying evacuees.

The Ukrainian president said that the Ukrainian rescue teams evacuated about 4,000 people from the affected areas, including areas on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.
occupied by Russia.

Yesterday, Sunday, Hana Malyar, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, said that Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka Dam to prevent Ukrainian forces from advancing in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Ukraine accused the Russian forces of blowing up the dam from inside the attached hydroelectric power station. The site has been under Moscow’s control since the first weeks of the Russian military operation on Ukraine in February of last year.

Moscow accused Ukraine of blowing up the dam. The two sides exchange accusations of bombing civilians during the rescue operations that take place in the aftermath of the dam bombing.

“It seems that the explosion of the hydroelectric power station in Kakhovka occurred with the aim of preventing the Ukrainian Defense Forces from launching an offensive in the Kherson sector,” Malyar said via Telegram.

She added that the bombing, which caused a massive flood that inundated towns and villages, trapped residents and swept away entire homes, was also intended to provide an opportunity for the deployment of Russian reserve forces in the regions of Zaporizhia and Bakhmut.