Zelensky: Ukraine plans to file suit against Russia in ICC for destroying Kakhovka dam

Ukraine intends to file suit against Russia in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for destroying the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, said President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference in Kyiv. 

According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian side has already informed E.U. and NATO countries about what happened and initiated a meeting with the U.N. Security Council, while Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has filed a criminal case for ecocide.

“We’ll understand the consequences of this tragedy in about a week. Simply put, when the water recedes. We know that there will be from 35 to 80 flooded settlements, that there will be major problems with the drinking water supply. There will be major problems with potable water even in areas that aren’t flooded, in all the affected regions: Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and of course Kherson,” said Zelensky.

The President of Ukraine’s Telegram channel later posted that the President’s office had heard an intelligence report about the situation at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. 

“The main conclusion is that the explosion was deliberate, but that the enemy acted chaotically and let its own equipment be flooded. At the same time, the dam explosion does not influence Ukraine’s ability to de-occupy its own territories,” the post reads. 

Russia denies involvement in blowing up the Kakhovka hydropower plant and claims that Ukraine sabotaged the dam. OSINT analysts suggest that the dam collapsed on its own, not as a result of an intentional explosion.