‘Because the Crimeans were getting worried’
The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) dam collapsed on 6 June. According to locals, they heard a loud noise during the night that did not sound like usual explosions. Residents of coastal areas immediately realised what had happened and started to inform each other about the threat of flooding. Although the Russian-appointed “mayor” of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontyev, initially tried to reassure residents by saying that the dam was intact.
“There is no threat to the water supply of the North Crimean Canal (the Crimeans were getting worried),” he wrote early in the morning on the city administration’s official channel.