A large dam on the Dnipro River, in southern Ukraine, has been destroyed, leading to major flooding and putting thousands at risk of another catastrophe along the war’s front lines.
Right now, both Ukraine and Russia are accusing the other of attacking the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power plant, which sits about 20 miles from the city of Kherson and creates a reservoir that cools Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
Ukraine blamed Russian “terrorists” for the explosion. “This is just one Russian act of terrorism,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “This is just one Russian war crime. Now Russia is guilty of brutal ecocide. Any comments are superfluous.”
Russia, meanwhile, accused Ukraine of staging an attack to cut off water to the Crimean peninsula and to distract from the start of its counteroffensive, which may finally be underway. “Apparently, this sabotage is also connected with the fact that, having started large-scale offensive actions two days ago, now the Ukrainian armed forces are not achieving their goals — these offensive actions are faltering,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
US and Western officials have also not made any definite conclusions, though most are leaning toward Russia as the likely suspect, especially given its history of targeting Ukrainian energy and civilian infrastructure intended to create humanitarian emergencies. Of course, Western leaders have been wrong before in attributing attacks to Russia, as with the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, which is why Western and NATO officials said they’re not yet making definitive conclusions.
Russia also has controlled the Nova Kakhovka dam since the early days of the war, which means, even if this was somehow an accident or unintentional explosion, it’s happening on its watch. Ukraine has also been warning since last year that Russia had mined the dam, and previously claimed Moscow had plans to destroy it ahead of…
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