The International Criminal Court investigates the destruction of the Kajovka dam

MADRID, 12 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski announced on Sunday that representatives of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have recently visited the Jerson region after the Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office asked him to investigate the incident.

"It is very important that the representatives of international justice have seen with their own eyes the consequences of this act of Russian terrorism and hear for themselves that Russian terror continues," the Ukrainian president said during his daily evening address.

Zelenski has assured that the Ukrainian authorities are facilitating the "most independent and objective" investigation of the TPI. "All our security forces and other institutions participate in this process to the greatest extent possible," she said.

"We provide full access to the affected areas, to the witnesses, to all the information and to the evidence. This investigation is very important for the security of the whole world," he stated, while reiterating the need for "full and fair rendering of accounts" as a "prerequisite to prevent such evil from repeating itself in the world".

The Ukrainian president has estimated at 4,000 people that the country's Armed Forces have managed to evacuate from the flooded areas after the destruction of the dam. "Dozens of cities and towns are still flooded, and the worst situation is still in the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region," he lamented.

In addition, he has insisted that Russian troops "continue to bombard evacuation routes and ships with evacuees", in reference to an attack carried out this Sunday that has resulted in the lives of three people.

"The occupiers created this mess by blowing up a dam, leaving people to fend for themselves in flooded cities and towns, and then shelling the ships trying to take the people away... Even beasts have more morals than you, Russian state," has recriminated.

Still, Kiev has included nearly 200 people on its list of individuals sanctioned after Russia's invasion of Ukraine "against those who helped destroy freedom in Russia and play a key role in repressions in the temporarily occupied territory."

"We will do everything possible so that each and every one of these accomplices of the Russian dictatorship is held accountable for everything they have done against the people and freedom," he said, detailing that 178 people have been added at the request of the Security Service. from Ukraine.

The dam of the Kajovka hydroelectric power plant, 60 kilometers from the city of Jerson, was destroyed during Tuesday morning and has completely flooded numerous settlements in Jerson, provoking the death of at least five people. Authorities in both countries are evacuating residents of affected areas.

Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of the destruction of the dam, which endangers the pumping of water to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the supply of water to the Crimean peninsula, under Russian control, and the destruction of populations and farmland on both banks of the river.