Ukraine on Tuesday accused the Russian forces of blowing up a major dam in a part of southern Ukraine that is Russia-controlled, alerting residents further along the Dnipro River of flooding downstream and evacuating.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry called for residents of 10 villages on the river’s right bank and parts of the city of Kherson to gather essential documents as well as their pets, turn off appliances and leave, while cautioning against possible disinformation.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said in a video posted to Telegram shortly before 7 am that “the Russian army has committed yet another act of terror,” and warned that water will reach “critical levels” within five hours.
Significance of the dam
The dam, 30 metres (98 feet) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long, was built in 1956 on the Dnipro river as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. The reservoir also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.
The volume of water in the reservoir is about equal to the Great Salt Lake in the US state of Utah. Blowing the Soviet-era dam, which is controlled by Russia, would unleash a wall of floodwater across much of the Kherson region.
The southern command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said that the Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine’s Kherson region was blown up by Russian forces.
“The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified,” the command said on its Facebook page.
Evacuation near Kakhovka Dam starts
The evacuation of areas near the Kakhovka region in southern Ukraine has begun, the governor of the Kherson region in Ukraine said.
“Within five hours the water will reach a critical level,” regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on the Telegram channel as 6:45 a.m. (0345 GMT).
Russia’s TASS state news agency cited emergency services as saying that some 80 settlements in the area may be affected by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.
Threat to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine poses a threat to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, but the situation at the facility is under control, Ukraine’s state atomic power agency said.
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Twitter it was closely monitoring the situation but that there was “no immediate nuclear safety risk at (the) plant” which is also in southern Ukraine.
It said the water level of the Kakhovka Reservoir was rapidly lowering, posing an “additional threat” to the Russian-occupied facility – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – which both sides have blamed one another for shelling.
“Water from the Kakhovka Reservoir is necessary for the station to receive power for turbine capacitors and safety systems of the ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant),” Energoatom said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
‘Russian terrorists,’ reacts Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine confirms that Moscow’s forces “must be expelled” from all of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
“Russian terrorists. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Not a single meter should be left to them, because they use every meter for terror.”
Russia blames Ukraine
A Russian-installed official in the Moscow-held Ukrainian town of Nova Kakhovka said that it would likely be impossible to repair the town’s dam after a blast tore a hole in the structure.
In comments to Russian state television, Vladimir Leontev said that the damage to the dam was the result of a series of Ukrainian strikes.
British foreign minister blames Russia
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, visiting Ukraine on Tuesday, blamed the destruction of a dam in southern Ukraine on Russia’s invasion.
“I’ve heard reports of the explosion on the dam and the risk of flooding. It’s too early to make any kind of meaningful assessment of the details. But it’s worth remembering that the only reason this is an issue at all is because of Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” he told Reuters.
“We’ll continue to assess the developing situation, but the best thing Russia could do now is withdraw their troops immediately.”
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry called for residents of 10 villages on the river’s right bank and parts of the city of Kherson to gather essential documents as well as their pets, turn off appliances and leave, while cautioning against possible disinformation.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said in a video posted to Telegram shortly before 7 am that “the Russian army has committed yet another act of terror,” and warned that water will reach “critical levels” within five hours.
Significance of the dam
The dam, 30 metres (98 feet) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long, was built in 1956 on the Dnipro river as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. The reservoir also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.
The volume of water in the reservoir is about equal to the Great Salt Lake in the US state of Utah. Blowing the Soviet-era dam, which is controlled by Russia, would unleash a wall of floodwater across much of the Kherson region.
The southern command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said that the Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine’s Kherson region was blown up by Russian forces.
“The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified,” the command said on its Facebook page.
Evacuation near Kakhovka Dam starts
The evacuation of areas near the Kakhovka region in southern Ukraine has begun, the governor of the Kherson region in Ukraine said.
“Within five hours the water will reach a critical level,” regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on the Telegram channel as 6:45 a.m. (0345 GMT).
Russia’s TASS state news agency cited emergency services as saying that some 80 settlements in the area may be affected by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.
Threat to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine poses a threat to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, but the situation at the facility is under control, Ukraine’s state atomic power agency said.
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Twitter it was closely monitoring the situation but that there was “no immediate nuclear safety risk at (the) plant” which is also in southern Ukraine.
It said the water level of the Kakhovka Reservoir was rapidly lowering, posing an “additional threat” to the Russian-occupied facility – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – which both sides have blamed one another for shelling.
“Water from the Kakhovka Reservoir is necessary for the station to receive power for turbine capacitors and safety systems of the ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant),” Energoatom said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
‘Russian terrorists,’ reacts Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine confirms that Moscow’s forces “must be expelled” from all of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
“Russian terrorists. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Not a single meter should be left to them, because they use every meter for terror.”
Russia blames Ukraine
A Russian-installed official in the Moscow-held Ukrainian town of Nova Kakhovka said that it would likely be impossible to repair the town’s dam after a blast tore a hole in the structure.
In comments to Russian state television, Vladimir Leontev said that the damage to the dam was the result of a series of Ukrainian strikes.
British foreign minister blames Russia
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, visiting Ukraine on Tuesday, blamed the destruction of a dam in southern Ukraine on Russia’s invasion.
“I’ve heard reports of the explosion on the dam and the risk of flooding. It’s too early to make any kind of meaningful assessment of the details. But it’s worth remembering that the only reason this is an issue at all is because of Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” he told Reuters.
“We’ll continue to assess the developing situation, but the best thing Russia could do now is withdraw their troops immediately.”
With agency inputs