Early on June 6, videos circulating on social media showed the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in Kherson province, southern Ukraine, partially destroyed and water rushing through. The Russian-installed authorities in the area declared a state of emergency following the incident, according to Reuters.
The parties accused each other.
Russia accused Ukrainian soldiers of launching rockets from the Olkha system at the power plant at dawn on June 6, destroying part of the dam, according to TASS. Emergency services reported that 14 of the dam’s 28 spans had collapsed and could continue to disintegrate.
Water flows through the Nova Kakhovka Dam after the dam was destroyed.
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of Kherson, said Ukraine had destroyed the Nova Kakhovka dam to distract attention from a failed counteroffensive in the east. The official also said there was no need for a major evacuation after the dam burst.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the incident. The leader said that Russian forces blew up the dam from inside at 2:50 a.m. About 80 settlements were in the flooded area, Mr. Zelensky said.
Mr Zelensky's adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam to hinder attacks by Ukrainian forces.
Dozens of downstream settlements are under threat.
Location of Nova Kakhovka Dam
THE GUARDIAN SCREENSHOT
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned Russia, writing on Twitter that the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam put the lives of thousands of civilians at risk and caused serious environmental damage.
Earlier, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he could not immediately draw conclusions about the incident but criticized Russia for starting the war in Ukraine, leading to today's incident.
European Council President Charles Michel said he was shocked by the dam collapse and vowed to hold Russia and its proxies accountable.
Nova Kakhovka Dam in satellite image taken on May 28
Emergency evacuation
The Nova Kakhovka Dam is located on the Dnipro River, about 30 km upstream from the city of Kherson (the capital of Kherson Oblast). The dam was built in 1956, is 30 meters high and hundreds of meters long, and is part of the Nova Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. The Nova Kakhovka Dam helps to retain about 18 km3 of water, supplying water to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, southern regions of Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula.
Vladimir Leontyev, the Russian-appointed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, said the river level in the nearest town had risen by 10 metres and could reach 12 metres in the coming hours. The official said the dam was continuing to be destroyed and the water was flowing uncontrollably.
The dam collapse could cause flooding in many areas downstream. Russia said about 300 households living along the Dnipro River in Nova Kakhovka were being urgently evacuated.
Meanwhile, AFP quoted a Ukrainian official as saying that many villages were partially or completely flooded and evacuations were underway. "About 16,000 people are in the danger zone on the right bank of the river in Kherson province," said the head of the provincial military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin.
A flooded area in Kherson after the dam burst.
Ukraine's Energy Ministry said the incident did not pose a threat to the country's southern electricity supply. "The electricity produced is sufficient to meet the needs of users," Reuters quoted the statement as saying.
Meanwhile, the local Russian-installed authorities said the dam break did not affect the water supply to the North Crimea Canal, which carries water from Kherson to Crimea. However, flooded areas in Nova Kakhovka are experiencing power and water cuts.
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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said experts at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are closely monitoring the situation and there is currently no risk to the plant. Water from the Nova Kakhovka dam reservoir is used for cooling systems at the Zaporizhzhia plant.
Russian Senator Dmitry Vorona said the impact of the dam collapse on the Zaporizhzhia plant would be minimal and that the emergency situation had been taken into account when the nuclear power plant was built.
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