Ukraine and Russia blame each other for blowing up the Kakhovka Dam; the areas of southern Ukraine are expected to flood, and Russia says it has foiled several counterattack attempts, writes Reuters.
The South command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces has informed that Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka dam built during the Soviet period in the occupied Kherson region. Unconfirmed videos on social media show explosions around the dam and huge masses of water rushing through the damaged areas.
The 30-meter-high and 3.2-kilometer-long dam was built in 1956. The amount of water stored in the reservoir formed by the Kakhovka Dam is equivalent to the volume of the Great Salt Lake in the US (almost 19 cubic kilometers), and the reservoir’s water is used to supply water to the Russian-annexed Crimea and also to cool the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya NPP.
The Ukrainian army reported that
the extent of the damage, the speed and volume of the water, as well as the threatened areas, are being clarified.
Russian news agencies have informed that the dam was breached during the shelling, and the mayor of Russian-controlled Nova Kakhovka is being blamed for terrorism. Zaporizhzhia NPP is currently not in danger. Russian sources in the Kherson region have reported that evacuation has begun in the vicinity of the dam and that the water will reach a critical level within five hours.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called an emergency meeting of the Security Council.
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