Ukraine has informed the head of the International Criminal Court (ICC) about the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in the country’s Kherson region, the Ukrainian prosecutor general said.
“I signed and sent the document by which we provide the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC with all available official information,” Andriy Kostin said in a statement on Twitter on Tuesday.
Calling the incident a “war crime,” Kostin claimed that Russian forces carried out the explosion.
“We are open to cooperation with the ICC and are ready to provide all the necessary evidence that prosecutors collect and process to identify and punish all those involved in this crime,” he said.
Kostin said that Ukraine is in the process of evacuating residents in the affected areas and claimed that the Russian army continues to shell settlements amid the evacuations. “Russia must be stopped. Together with the international community, we will bring to justice the perpetrators of this and other international crimes,” he added.
Explosions at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in southern Ukraine unleashed floodwaters on Tuesday, with both Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of destroying the dam.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service announced on Telegram on Wednesday that 1,752 people, including 103 children, have been evacuated from flooded areas.
The statement further said that nine evacuation points have been deployed and that a total of 20 settlements and 2,612 houses on the right bank of the Dnieper River were flooded, according to preliminary information.
Moscow accused Ukraine of attempting to cut Crimea off the freshwater it receives from the Kakhovka Reservoir, formed by the dam, while Kyiv claimed that Russia tries to slow an expected counteroffensive.
