- Ukraine’s SBU says it intercepted a Russian phone call
- SBU says records show Russian sabotage blew up the dam
- No immediate comment from Russia
- Moscow has accused Ukraine of destroying the dam
KIEV, June 9 (Portal) – Ukraine’s internal intelligence service said on Friday it had intercepted a phone call proving that a Russian “sabotage group” blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station and dam in southern Ukraine.
The destruction of the facility on Tuesday triggered mass flooding, forcing thousands of residents to flee and causing devastating environmental damage.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) published on its Telegram channel a 1.5-minute audio clip of the alleged conversation, which featured two men apparently discussing the aftermath of the disaster in Russian.
Portal could not independently verify the record. Russia, which accuses Kiev of destroying the dam, initially did not comment on its contents.
“They (the Ukrainians) did not attack it. That was our sabotage group,” said one of the men in the recording, whom the SBU described as a Russian soldier. “They wanted to scare (people) with this dam.”
“It didn’t go according to plan, more than they planned.”
The man also said it killed “thousands” of animals at a “safari park” downriver.
The other man on the phone expressed surprise at the soldier’s claim that Russian troops, who occupied the dam after the full-scale invasion of Russia in February 2022, destroyed the hydroelectric power station and dam.
The SGE did not provide any further information on the conversation and its participants. Criminal investigations into war crimes and “ecocide” were said to have been launched.
“The interception by the SBU confirms that the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station was blown up by an occupying sabotage group,” the SBU said in a statement. “The invaders wanted to blackmail Ukraine by blowing up the dam and staged a man-made disaster in the south of our country.”
Hundreds of Ukrainians were rescued from rooftops in the flooded areas on Thursday. The governor of the southern Kherson region said about 600 square kilometers or 230 square miles of the region was under water.
“By blowing up the Kakhovskaya VPP dam, the Russian Federation has finally proved that it is a threat to the entire civilized world,” SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk was quoted as saying in the statement.
“Our task is to bring to justice not only the leaders of the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but also ordinary perpetrators,” he said.
Reporting by Dan Peleschuk, editing by Timothy Heritage and Andrew Heavens
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