NEW YORK, United States. June 6 (Interfax) - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said that the UN did not have its own information about the circumstances in which the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was damaged, and called in the current situation for a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict.
"I appeal for a just peace, in line with the UN Charter, international law, and the resolutions of the General Assembly," Guterres told reporters, adding that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must be stopped.
The United Nations "had no access to independent information to verify how the catastrophe had occurred," he said, adding that the UN and its institutions, humanitarian agencies, were offering support and the required assistance.
The Kakhovka HPP's valves and other surface structures were destroyed by Ukrainian attacks in the early hours of Tuesday, which caused an uncontrolled discharge of Dnieper water from the Kakhovka reservoir downstream. The water level is rising in communities along the bank, and flooded houses are being evacuated. Water levels are expected to go down within 72 hours.
An emergency was declared in Novaya Kakhovka.
The Kakhovka HPP, in operation since the 1950s, regulates the Dnieper water flow for the purpose of power generation, irrigation and water supply to arid regions of southern Ukraine, as well as navigation between Kherson and Zaporozhye. This is where the North Crimean Canal, which provides the peninsula with Dnieper water, begins. Now, the facility is not generating electricity.