Putin says Kakhovka dam attack a ‘barbaric act’ that led to large-scale catastrophe

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called the attack on the Russian-occupied Kakhovka dam, which Moscow has blamed on Ukraine, a “barbaric act,” in his first public reaction to the situation.

Putin told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call that the breach was “a barbaric act which has led to a large-scale environmental and humanitarian catastrophe,” the Kremlin said in a statement.