A senior Russian diplomat outlined concerns about how the United Nations responded to warnings issued in October 2022 regarding the risks tied to attacks on Ukraine’s Kakhovskaya hydroelectric facility. The remarks were delivered during a UN Conference on Disarmament, with the critic highlighting that the world body did not act on the cautions raised at that time. The comments were reported by DEA News.
The diplomat recalled that on October 21, 2022, the Permanent Mission of Russia in New York circulated a letter expressing grave worry about the assault on the hydroelectric plant by Ukrainian forces and the potentially disastrous fallout such an attack could trigger, both in the immediate region and beyond. He stressed that the message urged UN leadership to implement measures to avert Ukrainian provocations, yet he claimed there was no meaningful response to that appeal.
Belousov also touched on the broader narrative surrounding the incident, noting that the implication in some quarters that the blast at the Kakhovskaya plant might have been carried out by Ukraine was subsequently framed as an accusation against Moscow, while Western representatives described it as if Moscow’s involvement were a certainty—claims he characterized as premature and unsubstantiated at the time.
Earlier, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) indicated its readiness to assist Ukraine in the wake of the Kakhovka dam’s collapse in the Kherson region, signaling regional support amid the evolving crisis and the humanitarian consequences for nearby communities.
During the night of June 6, the upper portion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric complex suffered damage in the Kherson region, near the town of Novaya Kakhovka. The resulting flooding affected numerous settlements, including regional hubs such as Kherson and New Kakhovka, prompting an urgent search for relief and evacuation measures as authorities assessed the scope of the destruction and its implications for water supply, power distribution, and safety of residents.
Both Moscow and Kyiv issued competing attributions for the dam’s breach. Some observers suggested that long-standing structural wear might have contributed to the failure, while others pointed to possible external factors. Ukrhidroenergo, the Ukrainian energy company responsible for the facility, declared that the station was completely destroyed and could not be restored, sparking questions about the timeline for any future reconstruction and the broader impact on regional electricity supply and economic activity. In this disputed environment, international actors called for careful verification, humanitarian access, and coordinated efforts to mitigate ongoing risks and preserve civilian safety. (Source attribution: DEA News)”