Kherson: Seven people are considered missing in the Kherson Region after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) and subsequent flooding, Vladimir Leontyev, the Russia-appointed mayor of the city of Nova Kakhovka, said on Wednesday.

"We are now finding out information about missing persons, but, preliminary, these people were evacuated from the flooding areas that ceased to exist — the islands. Shepherds were there ... There are about seven people, of whom we know for sure [that they are missing]," Leontyev told reporters.

Emergency workers are still searching for missing people, using boats, he added.
The city mayor said that the water level was still very high in the area, although it had decreased by 350 millimeters (13.8 inches) overnight.

The upper part of the Kakhovka HPP was destroyed by shelling overnight from Monday to Tuesday. The city authorities later confirmed that the structure of the dam was destroyed only partially, but it caused an uncontrollable outflow of water to towns downstream.

The Nova Kakhovka HPP is the sixth and the last stage of the cascade of Dnipro hydroelectric power plants located 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the city of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson Region. Russia and Ukraine have consistently blamed each other for shelling the Kakhovka HPP. Moscow has urged the UN Security Council to prevent the destruction of the plant, citing possible casualties among civilians.

(With UNI inputs)