Damage to a major dam in Ukraine is a “catastrophe” and “abhorrent act”, the Foreign Secretary has said.
Ukraine has accused Russian forces of blowing up a major dam and hydroelectric power station in a part of southern Ukraine that Russia controls.
Officials have described the breach as an “ecological disaster”, while Ukrainian authorities have ordered hundreds of thousands of residents downriver to evacuate.
Russian officials claim the dam, on the Dnipro river, was damaged by Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area.
James Cleverly tweeted: “The destruction of Kakhovka dam is an abhorrent act,” the Foreign Secretary said.
“Intentionally attacking exclusively civilian infrastructure is a war crime.
“The UK stands ready to support Ukraine and those affected by this catastrophe.”
The destruction of Kakhovka dam is an abhorrent act.
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) June 6, 2023
Intentionally attacking exclusively civilian infrastructure is a war crime.
The UK stands ready to support Ukraine and those affected by this catastrophe.
The Foreign Secretary visited Kyiv this week, where he met his counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
There are concerns that the damage to the dam could have broad consequences: flooded homes, streets and businesses downstream; depleted water levels upstream that help cool Europe’s largest nuclear power station; and drained supplies of drinking water to the south in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed.
Mr Zelensky said he convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council. He alleged that Russian forces set off a blast inside the dam structure and that some 80 settlements were in danger.
Mr Cleverly told reporters in Kyiv that there was no difference between the UK and US over the use of donated equipment on cross-border raids against Russia.
“All countries, including the United Kingdom have put limitations on the military equipment that we have donated,” he said.
“And in most instances, that means that that equipment can only be used within Ukrainian territory and on that issue, the UK and the US are in exactly the same place.”
He told reporters that “we have always made it clear that we support Ukraine’s self-defence and, of course, the decisions about how Ukraine conducts that self-defence are rightly decisions which are made by Ukraine’s leadership”.
Mr Cleverly said he wanted the war to quickly come to a conclusion “which is fair, which is right for the people of Ukraine and, of course, is a conclusion which reinforces rather than undermines the UN Charter and the concept of sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
