President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Bureau of Investigation are investigating how the Russians managed to capture the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant which they have now blown up. But he did not say whether traitors had facilitated this.

Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference on 6 June

Details: A journalist asked the president whether there was any understanding of why the Russians were able to reach the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant in February-March 2022, whether it was known who had betrayed Ukraine, whether investigative actions were underway, and who was responsible for this.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "The person responsible is the person found to be responsible by the criminal investigation. There is a criminal investigation. The State Bureau of Investigation and the Security Service are dealing with it...

We’re grown-ups. We understand that if some leave a town or city, then everyone leaves. Those who stay behind are either captured or dead. And those who left, left. And we need to see who left and what orders they received: are they traitors or were there orders?

That is why there is a criminal investigation. The criminal investigation will lead to conclusions."

Details: When asked whether the president knew for himself what happened in the south of Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian invasion, Zelenskyy replied: "I know for myself. I think I do. I think I understand what happened."

Background:

• The main structure of the North Crimean Canal and the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in Kherson Oblast were captured by Russian invaders on the first day of the full-scale invasion, 24 February 2022.
• On 4 March 2022, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was seized by Russian troops. Subsequently, they turned it into a military base, blackmailing the world with a nuclear catastrophe.
• On the night of 6 June 2023, the Russian occupation forces blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, destroying the turbine hall and the station itself; it cannot be restored. Kakhovka reservoir shallowing threatens the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
• Destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant caused an ecological catastrophe. Water from the reservoir has begun to flood towns and villages, and evacuations of local residents from dangerous areas have begun. The blowing up of the dam at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant has caused problems with the water supply in the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Marhanets and Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
• A week before the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was blown up, the Russian authorities authorised the non-investigation of accidents at high-risk facilities that occurred as a result of "military operations" and terrorist attacks.
• Early reports indicate that the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was blown up by the 205th Separate Cossack Motor Rifle Brigade of the Russian armed forces.

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