Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday accused Russian troops of blowing up the dam at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station and asked residents in areas along the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine to evacuate their homes.
The Southern Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has accelerated the destruction of infrastructure 60 kilometers from the city of Kherson and said it is investigating the extent of the damage, as well as the speed and amount of water that should hit neighboring areas.
The peak of flooding after the dam’s destruction #kakhovskaya hydropower plant is expected at 11 am Kyiv time, said the head of the Kherson Regional Council Olexander Samoilenko. pic.twitter.com/LgBPUgJuCu
– NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 6, 2023
The head of the regional military administration of Kherson, Oleksandr Prokudin, said in a video published on the Telegram platform shortly before 07:00 (05:00 in Lisbon) that “the Russian army has committed another act of terror” and warned that the water should reach “critical levels” within five hours.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry has asked residents of 10 villages on the right bank of the Dnipro River and parts of the city of Kherson to collect essential documents and pets, turn off electrical appliances and leave their homes.
Images circulating on social networks that appear to be from a surveillance camera, looking out over the dam, show a beam of light, an explosion and the collapse of the dam.
Video footage of the dam shows a major breach in the portion of the dam closest to the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the river. According to local authorities, flooding is expected to reach critical levels around 11am.https://t.co/sNaTGIzCOC
– The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 6, 2023
Mines of the #Russian occupiers detonated near Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station. pic.twitter.com/FZXJbcNtnT
– NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 6, 2023
Zelensky convenes
The head of the Ukrainian presidency’s cabinet, Andriy Yermak, revealed that President Volodymyr Zelensky has urgently convened a meeting of the country’s Security Council, following “another war crime committed by Russian terrorists”.
Russian terrorists. The destruction of the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station only confirms to the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of the Ukrainian land. Not a single meter should be left to them, because they use every meter for terror. It’s only… pic.twitter.com/ErBog1gRhH
– Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 6, 2023
In response, Moscow said the dam had collapsed “due to damage” caused by the conflict, confirming nearby land was flooded.
“The dam failed, a support collapsed and the flooding started,” a source told the official Russian news agency TASS.
The mayor of the occupied town of Nova Kakhovka said Ukrainian forces “carried out a series of attacks on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, destroying its valves” around 2 a.m. (Monday 11 p.m. in Lisbon).
Also according to TASS, Vladimir Leontiev said water was coming out of the dam “uncontrolled”.
Ukraine and Russia had exchanged accusations about alleged attacks on the dam, and in October Zelensky warned that Russia had planted explosives in the structure to cause a flood and make it difficult for Ukrainian troops to advance.
In February, the water level at the Kakhovka dam was so low that many feared a meltdown at the Russian-occupied Zaporijia nuclear power plant, whose cooling systems are supplied with water from a reservoir maintained by the dam.
In mid-May, after heavy rains and melting winter snows, water levels rose above normal levels, flooding nearby villages.
Source: DN
