The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River…and has called for people living downstream to evacuate in the face of catastrophic flooding. But the Moscow-installed official in the city of Nova Kakhovka in the Russian-controlled portion of the country’s Kherson region blamed the dam’s destruction on Ukrainian shelling. The critical Nova Kakhova dam spans the Dnipro River, a major waterway running through southeastern Ukraine and there are multiple towns and cities downstream, including Kherson, a city of some 300,000 people before Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor. Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River lies 30 km east of the city of Kherson. Its destruction would have a number of significant repercussions for the local area – and for Ukraine’s wider war effort. The dam traverses Ukraine’s enormous Dnieper River, holding back a huge reservoir of water. The dam itself is 30 metres tall and hundreds of metres wide. It was built in 1956 as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. The reservoir it contains holds an estimated 18 cubic kilometres of water, about the same volume as the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Bursting the dam could send a wall of water flooding settlements below it… including Kherson, which Ukrainian forces recaptured in late 2022. It also helps power the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant. Destroying the dam would add to Ukraine’s ongoing energy problems, after Russia spent weeks earlier this year targeting vital infrastructure. It would also likely wreck the canal system that irrigates much of southern Ukraine, including Crimea.

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