Key Ukraine dam blown up; here's all we know about Kakhovka dam attack
PTC News Desk: The latest casualty in the Russia-Ukraine war is a dam at the Kakhovka hydropower plant in southern Ukraine, with both sides accusing the other of the attack. The dam's blowing up has caused flooding in the war zone.
People are currently being evacuated from villages in the surrounding areas due to fears of catastrophic flooding.
So far, here's what we know.
The Kakhovka dam
The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is located in Nova Kakhovka, Ukraine's Kherson region, which is currently occupied by Russia.
It was built during the Soviet era and is one of six dams along the Dnipro River, which runs from the country's far north to the sea in the south. According to Reuters, the huge dam holds water equal to the Great Salt Lake in the US state of Utah.
Floodwaters in war zone
Images circulating on social media this morning show a catastrophic breach in the dam, with water already unleashed across the war zone and pouring downstream towards Kherson.
It is unclear how severe the flooding is or will be. However, depending on the size of the break, flooding might be disastrous.
Authorities in Kherson, which is just about 50 miles downstream, have advised residents in low-lying areas of the city to leave as soon as possible and seek refuge on higher ground.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson area, told Ukrainian TV this morning that eight villages had already been fully or partially flooded, with more expected to be flooded.
He stated that officials were evacuating residents by bus and train and that 16,000 people were in a "critical zone."
Reason behind the attack
The cause of the dam breach is unknown, but Ukraine's military has accused Russia of deliberately blowing it up. This appears possible, as Moscow may have worried that Ukrainian forces would use the dam road to cross the river into Russian-held territory as part of a counter-offensive.
Meanwhile, Russian-installed officials have accused Ukraine for the dam's destruction, but they claim that only the plant's upper section was destroyed by shelling, not the dam itself.
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- PTC NEWS
