The Kahovka dam has been blown up early Tuesday morning in Kherson, and the Dnieper River is flooding. Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of blowing up the dam.
The extent of the damage and the degree of flooding are currently being investigated, the Southern Military Administration of Ukraine informs. According to it, the Russian armed forces are behind the explosion. President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has called an emergency meeting due to the destruction of the dam.
Ukrainian authorities are urging people to evacuate from flooded areas. Advisor to the President Myhailo Podoljak says that the destruction of the dam causes enormous damage to both human settlement and nature in the area, and demands that Russia be held accountable for its crime.
The mayor of the Russian occupation regime, Nova Kahovkassa, says in the state media that the dam has suffered damage as a result of a “terrorist attack”. Russian state news agency TASS reports that half of the dam has been destroyed, and the collapse is still spreading.
Built in 1956, the 30-meter-high and more than three-kilometer-wide dam is part of the Kahovka hydropower plant. The dam has regulated water from the artificial lake to, for example, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the Crimean peninsula.
Regional director: The water will rise to a critical level in five hours
Ukrainian authorities are urging people to evacuate flooded areas in Kherson after the destruction of the Kahovka dam.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, rescue authorities are ready to help people evacuate.
– The water level will reach a critical point after five hours, says Herson’s regional manager Oleksandr Prokudin on his Telegram channel.
According to the authorities, dozens of population centers in the flood zone located along the Dnieper River.
The mayor of Russian-controlled Nova Kahovka Vladimir Leontiev announces that the residents of three hundred houses have been evacuated. According to the mayor, part of the city has been disconnected from the electricity grid as a safety measure, reports the Russian state news agency TASS.
Leontiev estimates in the Telegram messaging service that the flood water can rise up to 12 meters. The water level is expected to rise for three days.
“The situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant under control”
The Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom announces that the damage to the dam does not currently pose a threat to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Russia occupies the area of the nuclear power plant.
Director of a nuclear power plant Yuri Tshernitshuk announced on the Telegram messaging system that the water level in the basin used for cooling the power plant has not changed, and is now 16.67 meters. According to the manager, five of the power plant’s units have been completely shut down, and one only produces thermal energy.
Also according to Ukraine, the situation is now under control. However, the country’s state energy company Enerhoatom reminds us that the destruction of the Kahovka dam poses a threat to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
Water from the Kahovka artificial lake is needed, among other things, for cooling the nuclear power plant and maintaining safety equipment. The power plant’s cooling pool is currently full and the Ukrainian authorities are monitoring the situation, the energy company says.
The water rushing from the dam can cause damage to the city of Kherson and other populated areas along the Dnieper River. It is also believed to affect Ukrainian and Russian forces fighting in the region.
Missile strikes in Kharkiv, explosions in Kyiv
The war also continues elsewhere in Ukraine. At midnight, Russia launched numerous missile attacks on Kharkiv, the city’s mayor said Ihor Terekhov On the Telegram channel. To write about it The Kyiv Independent.
At least some of the missiles hit the center of Kharkiv. No personal injuries have been reported. According to Terekhov, the employees of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are there to investigate the damage.
In addition, explosions were heard in the capital, Kyiv, which, according to the city’s mayor, were caused by the activation of the anti-aircraft system. The head of the military command of the Kyiv region Serhi Popko writes in Telegram that more than 20 Russian missiles were intercepted in the area.
Information about Ukraine’s counterattack is conflicting
In the United States, authorities see signs that the expected counter-offensive by Ukraine has begun, reports the newspaper The New York Times.
Since Sunday, there have been several battles on the front line in eastern Ukraine, which, according to the newspaper, may point to the efforts of Ukrainian forces to reach the Sea of Azov and cut off the Russian-occupied land bridge to Crimea.
U.S. officials base their estimates in part on satellite data showing increased movement of Ukrainian troops.
On the night before Tuesday, Russia repeated its claim that it had repelled Ukraine’s advance in the Donetsk region.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that Ukraine suffered significant losses in Donetsk. It claims to have destroyed eight Leopard tanks and 20 other tanks.
The news is updated.
Sources: Reuters, AP, STT