Thousands urged to f lee after major dam collapses in Ukraine
KHERSON, Ukraine — A major dam in southern Ukraine collapsed on Tuesday, flooding villages, endangering crops and threatening drinking water supplies as both sides in the war scrambled to move residents and blamed each other for the destruction.
Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station, which sits on the Dnieper River in an area Moscow has controlled for more than a year. Russian officials blamed Ukrainian bombardment in the contested area, where the river separates the two sides.
It was not possible to reconcile the conflicting claims.
Russian and Ukrainian officials used terms like “ecological disaster” and “terrorist act” to describe the torrent of water gushing through the broken dam and beginning to empty an upstream reservoir that is one of the world’s largest.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it “the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
As homes, streets and businesses flooded, authorities expressed concerns about drinking water supplies and emergency crews moved thousands of people from Ukrainian and Russian-controlled areas.
In the downstream city of Kherson, angry residents cursed as they tried to preserve their pets and belongings. A woman who gave her name as Tetyana waded through thigh-deep water to reach her flooded house and rescue her dogs. They were standing on any dry surface they could find but one pregnant dog was missing. “It’s a nightmare,” she kept repeating. Both Russian and Ukrainian authorities brought in trains and buses to move residents to safety. About 25,000 people in Russian-controlled areas and 17,000 in Ukrainian-held territory should be moved, Ukraine’s deputy chief prosecutor Viktoriia Lytvynova said. Neither side reported any deaths or injuries.
A satellite photo by Planet Labs PBC showed more than 600 metres missing from the wall of the 1950s-era dam.
The dam break added a stunning new dimension to Russia’s war, now in its 16th month. Ukrainian forces were widely seen to be moving forward with a long-anticipated counteroffensive in patches along more than 1,000 kilometres of front line in the east and south.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Ukraine destroyed the dam to prevent Russian attacks in the Kherson region after what he alleged was a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive. He claimed Ukraine had lost 3,715 troops and 52 tanks since Sunday, and — in a rare acknowledgment of Russia’s own losses — said 71 Russian troops were killed and 210 wounded. Ukraine followed its standard practice of not commenting on its casualties.
Zelenskyy told reporters his government knew last year that Russia had mined the dam, so “there may come a moment when an explosion occurs.” Other Ukrainian officials said Russia blew up the dam to hinder Kyiv’s counteroffensive, even though observers noted that crossing the broad Dnieper would be extremely challenging. Other sectors of the front line are more likely avenues of attack, analysts say.
Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, called the alleged Russian destruction of the dam “a profoundly defensive measure” showing “the lack of confidence in Russia’s longerterm prospects” in the war.
Experts have previously said the dam was in disrepair, which could also have led to the breach. David Helms, a retired American scientist who has monitored the reservoir, said in an email it wasn’t clear if the damage was deliberate or simple neglect by occupying Russian forces. But he also noted a Russian history of attacking dams.
Authorities, experts and residents have been concerned for months about water flowing through — and over — the Kakhovka dam. After heavy rain and snowmelt last month, water levels rose beyond normal, flooding nearby villages. Satellite images showed water washing over damaged sluice gates.
Zelenskyy alleged Russian forces set off a blast inside the dam structure at 2:50 a.m. and said about 80 settlements were in danger.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it “a deliberate act of sabotage by the Ukrainian side” aimed at cutting water to Crimea.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the U.S. “cannot say conclusively what happened” and declined to assess the impact on Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Both sides warned of a looming environmental disaster from polluted water partly caused by oil leaking from the dam’s machinery and farmland deprived of irrigation.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry urged residents of 10 villages on the Dnieper’s western bank and parts of the city of Kherson to gather essential documents and pets, turn off appliances, and leave. The Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, which had a prewar population of about 45,000, said the city was being evacuated.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s biggest, relies in large part on water from the dam’s now-emptying reservoir. The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency reported “no immediate risk to the safety of the plant,” where six reactors have been shut down for months but still need water for cooling.