TheCable

A major dam breach in Ukraine has put over 40,000 people at risk of being flooded while dozens of towns have been taken over by water.

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s armed forces accused Russia of blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region.

The region has been controlled by Russian forces for over a year.

The dam, 30 metres tall and 3.2 kilometres long, was built in 1956 on the Dnipro river as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

The dam supplies water to the Crimean peninsula — annexed by Russia in 2014 — and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — Europe’s largest nuclear power station which is also under Russian control.

Dmitry Peskov, Russia’s presidential spokesperson, distanced the country from the accusations and said Ukraine damaged the dam in a “deliberate act of sabotage”.

Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, added that it was a tactic to provide cover for Ukraine to redeploy units for offensive operations.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was impossible for the country to destroy an area controlled by Russia in such a magnitude.

“Russia has been controlling the dam and the entire Kakhovka HPP for more than a year. It is physically impossible to blow it up somehow from the outside, by shelling. It was mined by the Russian occupiers. And they blew it up,” Zelensky said in a tweet.

“Russia has detonated a bomb of mass environmental destruction. This is the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades. It is the most dangerous terrorist in the world. And that is why Russia’s defeat – a defeat that we’ll ensure anyway – will be the most significant contribution to the security of our region, our Europe and the entire world.”

So far, at least 17,000 people are being evacuated.

Pictures of the effect of the damage shared by news agencies including the BBC showed floating buildings, wrecked property, and stranded residents.

The United States and Canada have expressed concern over the dam’s destruction.

Russia says it has launched a criminal investigation into the breach while Kyiv says it has opened a war crimes probe.