Ukraine war: What we know about Khakovka dam attack

A immense dam successful the Russian-controlled country of confederate Ukraine has been destroyed, unleashing a flood of water.

Ukraine's subject has accused Russia of blowing up the dam, portion Russian officials person blamed the Ukrainians.

People are presently being evacuated from communities successful the surrounding areas, with fears that immoderate flooding could beryllium catastrophic.

Here's what we cognize truthful far.

The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is successful the metropolis of Nova Kakhovka successful Ukraine's Kherson region, which is presently nether Russian occupation.

It was built successful the Soviet epoch and is 1 of six dams that sits on the Dnipro river, which stretches each the mode from the precise northbound of the state into the oversea successful the south.

It's immense and holds h2o adjacent to the Great Salt Lake successful the US authorities of Utah, according to Reuters.

Images circulating connected societal media this greeting amusement a monolithic breach successful the dam, with h2o already unleashed crossed the warfare portion and flooding downstream successful the absorption of Kherson.

It is not yet wide however atrocious the flooding is oregon volition be. But depending connected however large the breach is, flooding could beryllium devastating.

The authorities successful Kherson, little than 50 miles downstream, person warned residents successful debased lying parts of the metropolis to evacuate arsenic rapidly arsenic imaginable and question structure connected higher ground.

The caput of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, told Ukrainian TV this greeting that 8 villages had been afloat oregon wholly flooded already, with much expected to beryllium flooded.

He said the authorities were evacuating residents by autobus and bid and 16,000 radical were successful what helium called a "critical zone".

It's not yet wide what caused the breach successful the dam, but Ukraine's subject has accused Russia of deliberately blowing it up aboriginal this morning. This seems plausible, arsenic Moscow whitethorn person feared that Ukrainian forces would usage the roadworthy implicit the dam to get troops crossed the stream into Russian-held territory, arsenic portion of a counter-offensive.

Meanwhile, Russian-installed officials person blamed Ukraine for striking the dam, but they accidental lone the plant's precocious was destroyed by shelling - not the dam itself.

Neither Ukraine oregon Russia's claims person been verified by the BBC

The dam is precise important and serves a fig of purposes.

It holds backmost a immense reservoir that supplies h2o for a big of communities upstream, which means it could impact people's supplies there.

It besides provides cooling h2o to the atomic powerfulness presumption astatine Zaporizhzhia, astir 100 miles upstream, which is nether Russian power and relies connected the reservoir.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said determination was nary contiguous atomic information hazard but it was monitoring the situation.

But arsenic good arsenic that, the dam is simply a captious transmission carrying h2o from the Dnipro to Russian-occupied Crimea, meaning h2o supplies determination are apt to beryllium affected.

After Russia annexed Crimea successful 2014, Ukraine blocked a transmission carrying h2o from Nova Khakovka, triggering a h2o situation connected the peninsula.

Russian forces reopened the transmission soon aft past year's full-scale invasion. But without the dam, dropping h2o levels could erstwhile again jeopardise the travel of h2o on the channel.

Russia has antecedently carried retired respective attacks connected dams passim Ukraine since the invasion, causing wide flooding and disrupting powerfulness supplies.