President Erdogan Calls For International Investigation With The Broken Ukrainian Dam

Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Volodymyr Zelensky (Wikimedia/Official website of President of Russian Federation/Presidentt.gov.ua - Kolase/VOI)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the formation of an international expert commission to investigate the explosion that destroyed the Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region of Ukraine.

The Turkish leader is known to have had talks with the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia on Wednesday to discuss the incident that affected hundreds of thousands of people.

"President Erdogan said a commission could be formed with the participation of experts from the warring parties, the United Nations and the international community, including Turkey, to carry out a detailed investigation into the explosion at the Kakhovka dam," his office said after calling Ukrainian President Zelensky, reported by the Daily Sabah on June 8.

In a second call with Russian partner Vladimir Putin, President Erdoyan said a comprehensive investigation was needed to determine the cause of the devastation.

President Erdogan stressed that an international commission consisting of the United Nations and Turkey could be formed to investigate the matter, according to a statement from his office.

Moscow and Kyiv themselves blamed each other for the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which broke out on Tuesday morning after an explosion was reported.

During a phone call with Turkish President, Russian leader Vladimir Putin accused Kyiv authorities of being behind "barbarbaric actions that cause large-scale environmental and humanitarian disasters", the Kremlin said, citing The National News.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told President Erdogan the consequences of Kyiv's alleged attack on "Russian terrorism" was devastating.

Responding to who is to blame, the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, USA said Russia had a "larger and clearer interest in flooding lower Dnipro, despite the damage to the defensive position they have prepared".

It is known that the Kakhovka Dam is located in the Dnipro River, which flows a reservoir that provides cooling water for Russia's occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which is about 150 kilometers from the upstream of the river.

The destruction of the dam caused water to flow rapidly into Dnipro, prompting thousands of civilians to flee the flooded area and raising fears of an ecological disaster.

Kyiv estimates that around 42,000 people living near dams and the Dnipro River are at risk of flooding, which is expected to peak this week. It said the collapse of the dam had caused hundreds of thousands of people without access to drinking water.

Ukraine has also warned tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land in southern Ukraine could be destroyed.