At least 80 villages and communities are at risk of being affected by the massive water flows after the Nova Kakhovka power plant dam in Kherson was damaged in what is said to be an explosion overnight on Tuesday.
Evacuations have been initiated downstream. On the northern side of the river, which Ukraine controls, it is currently about 20,000 people who are covered by rescue efforts.
On the Russian-controlled side of the river, 600 households have been flooded, emergency services told the state-run Russian news agency TASS.
Peter Lidén, lieutenant colonel and teacher of military science at the Norwegian Defense Academy, says that most indications are that Russian forces are behind the explosion of the strategically important dam.
In addition to affected energy production, the drinking water supply is also lost in large areas of the Kherson region and the Russian-annexed Crimea.
– The Russians have fought hydroelectric plants and dams in Ukraine a number of times before. Now this dam is exceptionally large and it is a violation of international law through and through when you set out to release such strong forces and strike civilians so blindly. So the recklessness in itself is nothing new from the Russian side, says Peter Lindén.
Major: A matter of time
Roger Djupsjö, major and who has been in the area in question before, believes that it was only a matter of time before the dam would be sabotaged. He points, among other things, to the offensive that has been initiated by Ukraine.
– When they saw that the initiative was slipping out of their hands, I think they saw this as part of defending the occupied parts south of the Dnieper river, he says.
According to Djupsjö, it is the Russian-controlled part south of the river that is most affected by the maneuver. The gain, for Russia, is that it will be more difficult for Ukrainian forces to cross the river, he believes.
– The river will be flooded and it will be flooded and sinker on the banks. So it will take quite a long time, as I see it, before you can use the river or any temporarily built bridges, he says.