Ukraine accused Russian forces on Tuesday of blowing up a major dam and hydroelectric power station in a part of southern Ukraine, which is controlled by Russia, forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians downriver to evacuate over concerns of a significant flood.
Floods and water shortages threatened several villages in southern Ukraine as large amounts of water burst through a gaping hole in the Russian-controlled dam, flooding a large portion of the war zone.
Overview
The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is located in Nova Kakhovka, in Ukraine’s Kherson region, which is now occupied by Russia. It was constructed during the Soviet era and is one of six dams along the Dnipro River, which flows from the country’s far north to the sea in the south.
The Nova Kakhovka Dam, which stores water equivalent to the Great Salt Lake in Utah, supplies water to Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, also under Russian control.
The dam spans the Dnipro River, and there are several towns and cities downstream, including Kherson, which had a population of 300,000 before Moscow’s invasion.
Ukraine says Russian forces blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam in Kherson, while the Moscow-installed official blamed the dam’s destruction on Ukrainian shelling ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/AnGzlprMTK
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 6, 2023
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Two videos shared on social media showed the destroyed dam wall and torrents of water flowing into the river. Multiple buildings at the dam’s entrance were also severely damaged.
Authorities in Kherson, just about 50 miles downstream, have advised residents in low-lying areas of the city to evacuate as soon as possible and seek refuge on higher ground.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson region, told Ukrainian TV this morning that eight villages had already been wholly or partially inundated, with more expected to be flooded. He stated that officials evacuated residents by bus and train and that 16,000 people were in a “critical zone.”
#Ukraine's military said that Russian forces blew up #NovaKakhovka dam in southern Ukraine.
— Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) June 6, 2023
Ukraine President @ZelenskyyUa reacted to the attack & said, "The terrorists will not be able to stop Ukraine with water, missiles or anything else."#Russia #UkraineRussianWar pic.twitter.com/PXwFBT08lk
Russia, Ukraine Pointing Fingers
The dam’s breach has not yet been identified, but the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command accused Russian soldiers of blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam.
Ukraine’s military intelligence service subsequently stated on Telegram that Russian forces blew up the dam “in a panic,” calling it an “obvious act of terrorism and a war crime that will be evidence in an international tribunal.”
Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, responded, “This is ecocide.” “The Russians will be responsible for the possible deprivation of drinking water for people in the south of Kherson region and in Crimea, the possible destruction of some settlements and the biosphere,” he added.
Meanwhile, Russian-installed officials have accused Ukraine of the dam’s destruction, although they indicate that only the plant’s top section was destroyed by shelling, not the dam itself.
Russian news agency TASS stated that Ukrainian forces probably used Olkha multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to bombard the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) early morning. The shelling caused slide gate valves on the plant’s dam to collapse, resulting in an uncontrolled water discharge.
Vladimir Leontyev, the head of the local administration in Russia, stated the level of devastation at the Kakhovka HPP is severe, and rebuilding it will cost the same as building it from scratch.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will convene an emergency meeting to discuss the dam disaster, as reported by Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, on Twitter on Tuesday.