Ukraine

A dam in a Russian-controlled part of southern Ukraine has been attacked, leading to a major evacuation. It comes as debate continues over whether Ukraine's counteroffensive has finally started. Watch aerial footage of the dam damage in the video below.

Tuesday 6 June 2023 11:31, UK

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The UK's foreign secretary has called the destruction of the dam in the Russian-controlled part of southern Ukraine today an "abhorrent act".

James Cleverly tweeted: "The destruction of Kakhovka dam is an abhorrent act.

"Intentionally attacking exclusively civilian infrastructure is a war crime.

"The UK stands ready to support Ukraine and those affected by this catastrophe."

Ukraine has accused Russia of blowing up the dam from the insidein a deliberate war crime.

Russian-installed officials gaveconflicting accounts, with some blaming Ukrainian shelling, and otherssaying the dam had burst on its own due to earlier damage.

Officials from both sides have ordered residents to evacuate.

The EU condemnedthe destruction of the dam as a new example of the "barbaric aggression" by Russiaagainst Ukraine.

EU Commission spokesman Peter Stano said: "This is a new sign of escalation, bringing the horrific andbarbaric nature of Russian aggression against Ukraine tounprecedented levels."

The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has indicated the Russian army has killed some of his mercenaries.

In what the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) called a feud of "an unprecedented level", Prigozhin said Russian state forces "employed deliberate, lethal force again Wagner units".

Wagner has also likely detained a Russian army brigade commander after an altercation, according to the MoD.

In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said most of Wagner's forces have been withdrawn from Bakhmut. But Russia largely relied on the mercenaries to take the city from Ukraine in recent months.

The UK's MoD also suggested whether or not the Wagner Group continues to follow Russian orders in the coming months could be key to the war, especially as Russian reserves are depleted.

It added there has been a "substantial increase" in fighting in the past 48 hours in several areas on the front "including those which have been relatively quiet for several months".

By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor

The destruction of Ukraine's giant Nova Kakhovka dam could be the most damaging single event of the war so far.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously warned an attack against the vital structure should be treated in the same way as the use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Kyiv has blamed Russia for blowing up the dam. Russian-installed officials in territory occupied by Russia variously blamed Ukrainian shelling or claimed no attack had taken place.

Images on social media show water from the Dnipro River surging downstream towards the southern region of Kherson.

The authorities in the main city of Kherson, less than 50 miles from the dam, have warned residents in low-lying areas to evacuate to higher ground.

The dam

At 30 metres (98 feet) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long, the Nova Kakhovka dam was built in 1956 on the Dnipro River as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

It holds a giant reservoir with a volume of water equal to the Great Salt Lake in the US state of Utah.

As well as a crucial source of energy generation, the reservoir also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia claims to have annexed in 2014, as well as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.

Russian forces took control of the dam at the start of their February 2022 invasion.

However, Ukraine has long feared Moscow may seek to attack the dam to thwart efforts by Ukrainian forces to move against Russian-held territory in the south.

Mr Zelenskyy said last October that Russia had mined the dam when he made the weapons of mass destruction warning.

What is the impact of the destruction?

The most immediate impact is the risk of flooding to many thousands of civilians across huge swathes of territory downstream - both areas under Ukrainian control and under Russian occupation.

Some 22,000 people living across 14 settlements in Ukraine's southern Kherson region are at risk of flooding, Russian installed officials said. They told people to be ready to evacuate.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that up to 80 settlements were at risk of flooding.

The Crimean peninsula - under Russian control since 2014 - will also suffer.

It is dependent on fresh water from the North Crimean Canal, which is supplied by the Dnipro River.

The Russian-backed governor of Crimea said there is a risk that water levels in the canal could fall after the rupture of the dam.

Ukraine previously blocked water supplies to Crimea after Russia's annexation but the flow of water resumed after Russia took control of the dam last year.

The destruction of the dam could have a devastating impact on the land across the south if it devastates a system of irrigation canals.

The nuclear plant

A close eye will be kept on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest, which was also captured by Russia last year. The facility receives its critical cooling water from the reservoir.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, said on Twitter it was closely monitoring what was happening but that there was "no immediate nuclear safety risk at (the) plant".

Why might Russia target the dam?

Ukraine has accused Russia of blowing up the dam.

This seems plausible, coming just as Ukrainian forces appear to be in the initial phases of a major counteroffensive against Russian positions in the south and the east.

Rather than concentrate attention on their offensive operation, the Ukrainian government will have to focus on dealing with this disaster.

It could force the evacuation of huge numbers of people, as well as flooding vast areas of land.

Any mass flooding will also surely make military operations in the area much harder.

Ukrainian forces made limited advances north and southwest of Bakhmut yesterday, according to the Institute for the Study of War's (ISW) daily report.

President Zelenskyy thanked troops for "moving forward" as officials said they had advanced in three areas on the outskirts of the city.

But the ISW said it had not seen any visual confirmation of Ukrainian advances on Monday.

Claims of progress near Bakhmut

The head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, also said on Monday Ukrainian forces had captured the area of Berkhivka, around 6km north of Bakhmut.

He used it as an opportunity to criticise Russian military forces for withdrawing from a reservoir in Berkhivka on 12 May.

It's thought his comments are part of a continuing feud between the Wagner group and Russia's ministry of defence.

But don't forget it was the Wagner group which took back Bakhmut for Russia - before handing over control to Russian forces.

Ukraine and Russia have been blaming each other for destroying the Kakhovka dam in Kherson - but it's still not clear who is behind the attack.

So whose interests would it suit most?

Defence analyst Michael Clarke says it would support Russia's aims "much more strongly than Ukraine's".

"It's very hard to believe Ukraine would have done this. Even if they could, remember the explosion was on the Russian side of the dam," he said.

He explained that flooding the Dnipro River would make it harder for the Ukrainians to cross it during its future counteroffensive.

"Even though this would be bad for Crimea and the Russians living in Crimea, undoubtedly my view is that this is much more likely to be Russia than Ukraine," Professor Clarke added.

"Ukraine has nothing to gain from doing this - Russia has a lot to gain."

A state of emergency has been declared in the Nova Kakhovka district in Russian-controlled Kherson after the town's dam was damaged in an attack, the Russian state news agency Tass has reported.

Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for the blast, which has caused flooding in some areas, and forced people to flee their homes.

Tass said the state of emergency was introduced by the head of the district.

Concerns have been raised that the dam breach could disrupt the drinking water supply in Kherson, and nearby Crimea, or cause issues for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which uses the water in the Dnipro River for its cooling ponds.

We've been hearing a lot about the long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive.

But has it actually started?

Sky correspondent John Sparks tell us the destruction of the dam today "certainly introduces a very unpredictable element into this stage of the war".

"We are looking at the beginning of the much-anticipated Ukrainian offensive.

"The analysts and the experts will suspect that the Russians have blown the dam and the hydroelectric facility that's attached to it because it has a functional bridge."

"The Russians may be fearing that the Ukrainians would be able to access occupied eastern Ukraine by using that bridge," he said.

'Grave danger' as flood evacuation starts

Sky's correspondent also said people living near the river are now "in grave danger".

"The consequences are very serious indeed, you can see a huge amount of water now pouring downstream.

"The river levels are rising at about 15cm an hour.

"The people of ten villages and part of the city of Kherson have been told to evacuate, grab their things, turn off their appliances, get out.

"That is a dangerous situation for them, the river is rising.

"Also [there are] concerns upstream for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - they draw their cooling water from the reservoir above that dam. [It is a] very serious situation developing very quickly."

Russian forces detonated the Kakhovka dam from the inside of the structure, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

The Ukrainian president has been holding an urgent meeting of the National Security Council in response to the blast this morning.

In a Telegram post, he said the attack was launched at 2.50am, and it has left around 80 settlements in a flooding zone.

"Russian terrorists carried out an internal detonation of the structures of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant," he added.

"It was ordered to carry out evacuation from risk areas and to provide drinking water to all cities and villages that were supplied with water from the Kakhovka Reservoir.

"We do everything to save people. All services, military, government, office are involved."

Ukraine's movement in Kherson will be "much harder" due to the Kakhovka dam destruction, a retired senior British Army officer has said.

Speaking to Sky News, Major General Rupert Jones said the situation around the attack remains "confused" but what is clear is that the dam has been "very significantly damaged".

"The immediate implications are around flooding in the downstream areas. There's talk of 16,000 residents are at risk," he added.

"There are local evacuations going on as we speak, the second immediate concern is around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant."

Authorities have said there are no immediate concerns around the facility.

In the longer term, General Jones warned drinking water supplies could be affected, as well as hydroelectric power.

"That's before you get on to any concerns about the military operation. The flooding will clearly make Ukrainian manoeuvre in that area very much harder," he said.

By Alex Crawford, special correspondent in Ukraine

It's been emergency stations on both sides of the Dnipro River in Ukraine's Kherson region after the explosion at the critical Nova Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled part of the south.

Both sides have blamed the other for destroying the dam which contains a huge reservoir.

Water from the dam supplies the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control, and the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

The explosion also damaged the dam's hydroelectric plant.

Tens of thousands of people have been urged to leave the area and an evacuation train from the main Kherson city station has been hastily arranged for noon local time.

Ukrainian police have used their Telegram channel to advise people to only grab essential items, such as vital documents and pets.

The Ukraine-appointed head of the Kherson region military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said in a video: "Evacuation has started. I ask you to do everything you can to save your life. Leave the dangerous areas immediately."

The dam has been of twofold critical strategic importance since the start of the war.

First, it is enormous - containing a reservoir with 18 cubic kilometres of water - the equivalent of the Great Salt Lake in Utah in America.

Dozens of villages, towns and Kherson city depend on the dam for energy and water.

But secondly, it has long been identified as a potential target because of the destruction and misery it would unleash if breached.

President Zelenskyy warned in October that the dam could be a target for the Russian forces and urged the West to take action to safeguard it.

The dam was built in 1956 in the Soviet era and stands 30 metres tall and 3.2 kilometres long.

It traverses the substantial waterway that is the Dnipro River - with Russian forces now on the southeast flank of the river and Ukrainian forces having recaptured the west side of the region, including the region's capital, Kherson city.

In the past, Mr Zelenskyy has described in apocalyptic terms what the breaching of the dam would mean.

"Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster," he has said, comparing the deliberate sabotage of it to the use of weapons of mass destruction.

Ukrainian military sources are being substantially quoted on social media highlighting the ecological disaster that the dam breach will reek on an area far beyond the borders of Ukraine – including the entire Black Sea Region.