In a new video speech released early Thursday, the Ukrainian president said “everything is being done to eliminate the consequences of yet another heinous Russian act,” referring to the targeting of a dam in Kryvyi Rih, on the Inhulets River 150 kilometers (93 miles) . ) southwest of Dnipro, Ukraine. City officials are battling to contain damage to the water system after eight cruise missiles hit a pumping station there, in what Zelensky called an attempt to flood the city, the largest in central Ukraine with a population of 650,000 before the war. Ukrainian lawmaker Inna Sovsun tweeted: “The water pumping station was destroyed. The river broke the dam and overflowed its banks. The residential buildings are only a few meters away from the river.” The strikes caused “widespread flooding” in parts of the city, after the river rose by 2.5 meters, according to the Institute for the Study of War. The Russian attack was likely intended to destroy Ukrainian sea bridges further downstream as part of efforts to disrupt the Kherson counteroffensive, it said. Video posted online shows rising water levels in Inhulets and flooded streets in the city, amid calls for residents to evacuate. Switching to Russian, Zelensky said: “Your missile attacks today, Russian missiles targeting Kryvyi Rih, the Karachunivske reservoir dam, objects that have no military value, actually hit hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, are another reason why Russia will lose… you are weak waging a war against civilians. skarts who, having left the field of battle, try to do harm from somewhere far away.’ Zelensky’s speech was made public after the news that the car in which the president was riding was involved in a car accident in Kyiv. He was not seriously injured, spokesman Serhii Nykyforov said. Nykyforov did not say when the accident happened, but said the car Zelenskiy was in collided with a private vehicle in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday night. “The president was examined by a doctor, no serious injuries were found,” he said in a Facebook post, adding that the accident would be investigated. He did not specify what, if any, injuries Zelensky might have sustained. Medics accompanying Zelensky gave the driver of the private car first aid and put him in an ambulance, Nikiforov said. Zelensky was returning to Kyiv on Wednesday from the Kharkiv region, where he visited troops in the recaptured city of Izium. In his video speech, Zelensky also spoke of the devastation found by Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv region, saying evidence of torture and other abuses bolstered allegations of genocide against Ukrainians, following similar abuses in Bukha and the Chernihiv and Sumy regions. . He said almost the entire Kharkiv region had now been liberated by “an unprecedented movement of our fighters”. “The Ukrainians have once again managed to do what many thought was impossible,” he said, adding that nearly 400 settlements had been recaptured. “The 150,000 Ukrainians who remained on this soil are now feeling again what a normal, safe, normal life is like.”
