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Amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports have indicated that Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of planning to blow up the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on the Dnipro River. The dam is in the eastern Kherson region which is currently under Russian occupation.
The Kakhovka dam was built in 1956 on the Dnipro river as part of a hydroelectric power plant, it is 30 metres tall and 3.2 km long. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent address, “the hydroelectric power plant holds a volume of about 18 million cubic meters of water.”
The dam is also responsible for at least 85% of the water supply to Crimea which was annexed by Russia in 2014, as well as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant which is also occupied by Moscow. Reports suggest that blowing up this dam would lead to catastrophic floods in Kherson and surrounding areas affecting hundreds and thousands of people.
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In his overnight address, on Thursday, Ukraine’s Zelensky alleged that the dam on the Dnipro River has been mined by Russia, while Moscow had previously accused Kyiv of firing missiles at the Kakhovka dam. According to Zelensky if the dam is destroyed it could affect the water supply to much of southern Ukraine and also stop the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s supply of cooling water.
“If Russian terrorists blow up this dam, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be in the zone of rapid flooding. Hundreds of thousands of people could be affected,” said Zelensky during the address. Reportedly, he also told the European leaders that after Russia blows up the dam it will blame Ukraine for it.
On the other hand, earlier on Thursday, Vladimir Leontyev, a Kremlin-installed official in Ukraine told Russian TV that Ukraine has fired five missiles against the Kakhovka dam as well as the power station and if it is destroyed it would sever the crucial canal providing water to Crimea.
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This comes after, the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, on Tuesday said, “We have information on the possibility of the Kyiv regime using prohibited methods of war in the area of the city of Kherson, on the preparation by Kyiv of a massive missile strike on the Kakhovka hydro-electric dam.” Meanwhile, another Kremlin-installed deputy head of the annexed Kherson region has reportedly said that Ukraine’s claims that Russia has mined the dam are false.
According to media reports, Ukraine’s presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, on Thursday said, “Russia is preparing a manmade catastrophe.” He alleged that Russia had mined the dam as well as the transformers to flood the lower Dnieper River, and reportedly called it the “Surovikin plan” which involves flooding the territory to stop Ukraine’s counter-offence in the region.
(With inputs from agencies)
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