President's Office names people possibly responsible for blowing up Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant

Tuesday, 6 June 2023, 12:18

Early reports indicate that the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was blown up by the 205th Separate Cossack Motor Rifle Brigade of the Russian armed forces.

Source: Mykhailo Podoliak, the advisor to the head of the President’s Office, during the national joint 24/7 newscast; Ukrainska Pravda 

Quote: "Our intelligence has already provided data on which Russian military unit did this – the 205th Motor Rifle [Brigade]."

Details: Podoliak recalled that under the Geneva Convention, the blowing up of a hydroelectric power plant is an undeniable use of indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction. 

According to an analysis by Ukrainska Pravda, representatives of the 205th Separate Cossack Motor Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces have long been based at the Kakhovka HPP. 

The brigade is known for taking part in the first Chechen war and its motto is "205th Brigade, we will return even from hell".  Currently, it mostly consists of conscripts from various regions of Russia.

The commander of the 205th Brigade is 40-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Eduard Shandura. According to previously published information from Ukrainian intelligence, he was withdrawn from combat missions to take part in a parade in the devastated city of Mariupol in May 2022. Last autumn, some Ukrainian Telegram channels reported on the alleged killing of Shandura in Kherson Oblast.

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