The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in southern Ukraine, which is controlled by Russia, was destroyed, causing severe flooding and forcing thousands of residents to flee. The destruction of the dam, which released a torrent of water from a reservoir upstream, has affected an estimated 16,000 people on the western side of the Dnipro River, controlled by Ukraine, while 25,000 residents on the eastern bank, under Russian control, are threatened. This disaster has added more pressure to an already scarred frontline zone because of the full-scale invasion by Russia. The U.N. secretary general called it a “monumental humanitarian, economic and ecological catastrophe” and “yet another example of the horrific price of war on people.”
Despite Russian forces launching around 70 attacks on the city since the dam broke, Ukrainian rescue workers raced to save people from the floods downstream of the dam in the Kherson region. On the eastern side of the river, four villages were flooded, and about 17 people were rescued from their roofs. Residents described how they watched as rising waters crept from house to house and kept their distance from the river bank where Russian snipers on the opposite side had fired at them in the past. Evacuees are being sheltered in nearby cities, including Mykolaiv, a Black Sea port city already under strain as a hub for people fleeing fighting.
The water level in the city of Kherson is expected to increase by a further three feet or so before subsiding. More than 1,800 houses had been flooded in areas controlled by Ukraine, and over 1,400 people had been evacuated. At least seven people have been reported missing. Additionally, Ukraine’s agriculture minister said that many agricultural irrigation systems in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions would be without a water source.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “hundreds of thousands of people have been left without normal access to drinking water.” Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency reassured that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which sits on the reservoir upstream of the dam, is not at risk of meltdown. Moreover, the hydroelectric power plant adjacent to the shattered dam cannot be restored.
As of now, blame for the breach has been traded between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine claimed Russia caused the burst, claiming there was an explosion in an engine room. In contrast, Russia claimed Ukrainian forces carried out “sabotage.” The most likely cause of destruction was a deliberate internal explosion, according to engineering and munitions experts. The dam lies on the front line between Ukraine and Russia, and with little prospect of an independent investigation amid the war zone, there is speculation surrounding the actual cause of the destruction. Military experts believe that the flooding could divert both sides’ attention and resources from the recent escalation of violence in Donetsk.
