Thousands of people have been evacuated after the Soviet-era Nova Kakhovka dam in the Russian occupied Kherson region was blown up, as reported by BBC. The blowing up of the major dam resulted in widespread flooding in Southern Ukraine. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 80 towns and villages may be flooded after the destruction of the dam. Water is surging down the Dnipro river, which can pose a catastrophic flooding risk to the city of Kherson.
The Kakhovka dam, downstream from the huge Kakhovka reservoir, is important for the region as It supplies water to farmers and residents. It also provides water to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is Europe’s largest nuclear plant. It also carries water south to Russian-occupied Crimea. According to BBC, the administrator of Ukraine's state-owned hydropower plants Ukrhydroenergo warned that the peak of a water spill downstream from the emptying reservoir was likely on Wednesday morning.
It said this would be followed by a period of "stabilisation", with the water expected to rapidly recede in four to five days. There are concerns about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which uses reservoir water for cooling. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the situation there is said to be under control and there is "no immediate nuclear safety risk" for the plant, as reported by BBC.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia’s TASS state agency reported citing a Moscow-backed official in the region that there was no “critical danger” to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia.
Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russia of blowing up the Soviet-era Nova Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region, which is occupied by Russia, resulting in widespread flooding in Southern Ukraine. According to Reuters, the South command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Russian forces blew up the dam. Water gushed from the dam after Kyiv accused Moscow of blowing it up, as reported by AP. Russia has claimed to have thwarted another Ukrainian offensive in eastern Donetsk and inflicted heavy losses.
Russia launched fresh air strikes overnight on Kyiv and on the other hand the war-torn country has said that its air defence systems have brought down more than 20 cruise missiles.
The dam was built in 1956 on the Dnipro River. It is 30 metres tall and 3.2 km long. It holds water equal to that in the Great Salt Lake in the U.S. state of Utah and also supplies water to Crimea. The dam was annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control. “The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified,” the Ukrainian military said on Facebook, as quoted by Reuters.
According to Russian news agencies, the dam was destroyed by shelling, and the mayor of Russia-controlled Nova Kahhovka city was quoted as blaming an act of terrorism.
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