Thousands of civilians in southern Ukraine are being evacuated after a section of the Nova Kakhovka dam was destroyed early Tuesday, unleashing floodwaters from a reservoir nearly the size of Utah’s Great Salt Lake.
Ukraine and Russia accused each other of destroying hundreds of feet of the dam and a hydroelectric power plant. The destruction took place as Ukraine began a long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Floodwaters are threatening towns along the river and the city of Kherson, a city of about 300,000 people.
Though both sides said an explosion caused the dam’s breach, it’s not yet known exactly what happened. Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukraine of “deliberate sabotage” to deprive Crimea of water.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the dam was mined by the Russian occupiers, creating the “largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades.”
Both sides are affected by the rushing water, which is flooding military positions and bogging down supply routes.
The 98-foot-tall dam is a crucial 2-mile-long barrier across the Dnipro River that divides Ukrainian forces to the northwest and Russian units in the southeast. It controls the Kakhovka Reservoir, the largest in Ukraine, which supplies water to surrounding towns.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there was “no immediate risk to the safety of the plant,” but warned of long-term consequences. He noted the reservoir level was falling at a rate of nearly 2 inches per hour.
The Nova Kakhovka dam is one of six on the Dnipro River. It took six years to build and became operational in 1956.
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CONTRIBUTING Kim Hjelmgaard and John Bacon, USA TODAY
SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Associated Press
