Ukraine's Zelensky says dam destruction is 'environmental bomb of mass destruction'

KYIV - President Volodymyr Zelensky described

the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam

in southern Ukraine on Tuesday as “an environmental bomb of mass destruction” and said only liberating the entire country could guarantee against new “terrorist” acts.

“Such deliberate destruction by the Russian occupiers and other structures of the hydroelectric power station is an environmental bomb of mass destruction,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

He said the destruction of the dam would not stop Ukraine and Ukrainians.

“We will still liberate all our land. Only the complete liberation of Ukrainian land from the Russian occupiers will guarantee that there will be no more such terrorist attacks,” he said.

In his remarks, Mr Zelensky also said Ukrainian prosecutors had already approached prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague “to involve international justice in the investigation of the destruction of the dam”.

And for the second day running, Mr Zelensky singled out military units fighting in and near the long-besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, while giving no details of the clashes.

“Thank you! For moving forward!” he said.

Meanwhile, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday that a large cooling pond for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that is above the reservoir of the dam is full and has enough water for several months.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said that his agency would quickly verify the level of the pond, which is usually supplied with water from the reservoir. That water is used for the essential cooling of reactors and spent fuel at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant. REUTERS