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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Maroosha Muzaffar,Zoe Tidman and Matt Mathers

Ukraine war - latest: Kyiv vows to ‘hit back harder’ if Putin attacks Kakhovka dam

Russian Defence Ministry

Huge blast erupts as Ukrainian council building in Energodar struck by missile

Ukraine has vowed it will “not succumb to peace by coercion” while threatening to hit back even harder if Putin blows up a hydroelectric dam in the Russian-occupied Kherson region.

Russia is reportedly planning to destroy the Kakhovka plant, an act that would result in a “catastrophe on a grand scale”, President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, tweeted that Moscow has resorted to the plot because “nuclear blackmail did not work”.

President Zelensky claims the Kremlin has planted mines at the frontline dam, which risks wiping out a 400km-long (250 miles) canal network.

Russia is preparing [to attack] at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. According to our information, the aggregates and dam of the Kakhovka HPP were mined by Russian terrorists.

“If the dam is destroyed… the North Crimean canal will simply disappear.”

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