US State Dept. Official Says Kakhovka HPP Potentially Damaged In "Accident", more funding for Ukraine if needed

Damage to the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant could have been the result of an accident rather than an intentional strike, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday.

"Of course that could be a possibility, but we are trying to determine what happened," Patel said during a press briefing, when asked whether the situation could possibly be accidental.

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 The Biden administration will ask Congress for more funding for Ukraine if needed in light of the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), but now is not the appropriate time to have that conversation because the impact is unknown, White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday.

"We've got enough funds, as I said earlier, to help support Ukraine on the battlefield throughout the rest of this fiscal year," Kirby said at a briefing. "We're just now assessing the damage done by this dam explosion so it would be imprudent for me to try and speculate as to what impact that might have. It is certainly difficult at this early stage to see that there's going to be an impact on supplemental funding. Either this year or going forward into next year based on the explosion."

Kirby also said now is not the time for the Biden administration to request more funding from Congress.