An explosion rocks the Kakhovka Dam. As a result, the Kherson region is severely flooded. The news ticker on the catastrophe in Ukraine.
- Reports from the USA: Russia is said to be behind the explosion
- Help from Germany: THW prepares aid deliveries
- Kakhovka dam near Kherson blown up: far-reaching consequences for Ukraine
- All news and developments about the Kakhovka Dam in our news ticker.
Update from June 7, 4:30 a.m.: After the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, Ukraine and Russia blamed each other before the UN Security Council. Ukraine's ambassador to the UN, Serhiy Kislitsia, spoke of an "act of ecological and technological terrorism" at an emergency meeting in New York convened at short notice. The explosion was "another example of Russia's genocide against the Ukrainians."
Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, on the other hand, said that the incident was due to "deliberate sabotage by Kiev" and could be classified as a war crime. The dam had been used for an "unimaginable crime".
Kakhovka dam destroyed: Baerbock blames Russia
Update from June 6, 20:50 p.m.: The city of Oleshky, in the Russian-occupied part of southern Ukraine's Kherson region, is "almost completely flooded" following the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam, Andrei Alekseenko, a Russian-installed head of government in the region, said on Telegram.
Local residents carry their belongings during evacuation from a flooded neighborhood in Kherson. © Libkos/dpa
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has blamed Russia – like Chancellor Scholz – for the floods. "There is only one person responsible for this man-made environmental catastrophe: Russia's criminal war of aggression on Ukraine," said the Green politician during her trip to Latin America in São Paulo, Brazil. "With the Kakhovka Dam, a civilian dam near a nuclear power plant is being misused as a weapon of war and the lives of the people in the area are being put in grave danger."
Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam: US intelligence leaks
Update from June 6, 20:00 p.m.: President Joe Biden's administration "cannot say conclusively" who was responsible for the massive breach of the Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
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However, two U.S. officials and one "Western" official told NBC News that the U.S. has intelligence that would clearly point to Russia. Relevant intelligence information could be released on Tuesday – this coincides with the statement of Kirby, who stated that they are in the process of "assessing reports that Russia is behind it".
Thus, the United States would contradict the Russian version of the explosion. Moscow blames Ukraine.
Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam: German aid deliveries are being prepared
Update from June 6, 18:20 p.m.: The German government has announced aid following the destruction of a dam in southern Ukraine. Germany will stand by Ukraine to cope with this catastrophe in the midst of Russia's President Vladimir Putin's war of aggression, said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) on Tuesday. Above all, they want to help to be able to care for evacuated people.
"For this reason, THW is already working hard to prepare German aid deliveries for the affected region," the minister announced. "We will get our aid deliveries on their way within a very short time." In a statement from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, it said: "THW volunteers are currently preparing relief goods transports for the Ukrainian Civil Protection (DSNS)." Among the possible relief supplies are water filters and power generators, which are urgently needed in the affected area.
Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam: Military expert speaks of "diabolical calculation"
Update from June 6, 17:20 p.m.: After the blowing up of the Kakhovska dam near Kherson, military expert Markus Reisner assumes a "diabolical calculation" with which Russia could have accepted the widespread destruction and the high number of victims. Due to the flooding, it is no longer possible for soldiers to land in the contested river delta, he told ntv. Earlier, activity had been repeatedly reported in the southern region around Kherson, which could have indicated a counteroffensive by Ukraine on this sector of the front.
Update from June 6, 16:10 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has blamed Moscow for blowing up the Kakhovka dam and compared it to the use of a weapon of mass destruction. "This is the biggest man-made environmental catastrophe in Europe for decades," he said at a security conference in the Slovakian capital Bratislava. There he was connected by video on Tuesday. "Russia has detonated an ecological weapon of mass destruction."
Zelenskyy rejected the Kremlin's claim that Ukraine destroyed the dam itself, causing a devastating tidal wave. "Russia has controlled the Kakhovka dam with the hydroelectric power plant for over a year," he said, according to his presidential office. "And it is physically impossible to destroy it from the outside, by shelling." The dam was mined by Russian soldiers. "And they blew him up."
Destruction of the Kakhovka dam: Russia apparently wanted to cause chaos
Update from June 6, 15:15 p.m.: After the destruction of a dam in the part of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops, experts see the responsibility with Russia. "Everything suggests that the Russians blew up the dam," military expert Carlo Masala told the news portal t-online on Tuesday. Moscow is pursuing two goals: to create chaos and to hinder a counteroffensive by Ukraine.
Military expert Christian Mölling of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) also sees Russia behind the explosion. "The Russians want to disrupt the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which is beginning to work in some places," Mölling told the newspapers of the Funke media group. "Moreover, if it had been the Ukrainians, it would jeopardize Western support. That would be counterproductive."
Destruction of Kakhovka dam: Russia speaks of "sabotage" and blames Ukraine
Update from June 6, 13:40 p.m.: Contrary to Ukraine and the West, the Kremlin has accused Kiev of destroying the important dam in Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka. "We officially declare that this is clearly a deliberate sabotage of the Ukrainian side, carried out on orders (...) of the Kiev regime," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. He did not provide any evidence for the allegations. President Vladimir Putin will be informed of all developments, Peskov said.
Ukraine and many Western observers, on the other hand, are convinced that the Russian occupiers blew up the dam itself in the early morning – possibly to hinder the planned Ukrainian counteroffensive. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also said: "This is also something that joins many, many of the crimes we have seen in Ukraine committed by Russian soldiers."
Destruction of Kakhovka Dam: Ukrainian attack via river now impossible
Update from June 6, 12:20 p.m.: The destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine ends any hope that Kyiv troops will be able to launch a successful attack via the waterway, according to an adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The section of the front line near Kherson was a possible starting point for Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive. Andriy Zagorodnyuk, who was Ukraine's defense minister from 2019 to 2020 and now serves as an adviser to the Ministry of Defense, told Newsweek that an attack across the Dnieper is now out of the question.
Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam: A catastrophe looms – 80 places flooded
Update from June 6, 12:00 p.m.: Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal speaks of a flood risk for up to 80 localities after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. The destruction will lead to an environmental catastrophe. The military governor of the area, Olexander Prokudin, warns that within five hours the water level could reach a critical level. The Russian crew chief of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontiev, admits that there could also be problems with the water supply on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, south of Kherson, which was annexed by Russia back in 2014. This is supplied with water from the Kakhovka reservoir.
Blowing up Kakhovka dam: Czech Republic blames Russia
Update from June 6, 11:40 a.m.: After the blowing up of the Kakhovka dam, the Czech Republic blamed Russia for the destruction. Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky accused the leadership in Moscow on Tuesday of pushing the boundaries of its aggression further and further. "The attack on the Nova Kakhovka dam above populated areas is comparable to the use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians," he wrote on Twitter. Such brutal action must be punished.
"Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station. Another war crime committed by Russian terrorists," Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram. "The president convened the National Security Council."
Detonation of Kakhovka dam in Ukraine: "No imminent danger" for Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Update from June 6, 10:58 a.m.: After the blowing up of the Kakhovka dam near Kherson, there is great concern about the consequences of the severe damage to Ukraine and its people. According to initial findings, however, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has at least given the all-clear for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the northeast. This, like the Kakhovka Dam, is located on the Dnipro River. In Zaporizhzhia, the water is basically needed for cooling purposes.
For the nuclear power plant, however, there is "no immediate danger," said the authority on Twitter. "IAEA experts at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are closely monitoring the situation." The fact that there is currently no danger to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – currently occupied by Russia – was also confirmed by a spokesman for the Russian nuclear company Rosenergoatom to the Interfax agency.
The Russian news agency Tass reported on Tuesday, June 6, that the Kakhovka dam has been destroyed along half its length, citing information provided by Moscow-appointed mayor Vladimir Leontiev. "At the moment, the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station continues to collapse, the water is draining uncontrollably," he said in a Channel One television program.
Kakhovka dam blown up in Ukraine: Russia may be responsible
Ukraine and Russia continue to accuse each other of responsibility for blowing up the dam. Kiev prescribes a clear motive for Moscow. Russia obviously has the goal of creating insurmountable obstacles for the planned Ukrainian major offensive, wrote presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak on Tuesday in the short message service Twitter. This was intended to delay the end of the war and demanded that Russia be internationally classified as a terrorist state. "On a vast territory, all life is destroyed," Podolyak wrote. "Many villages are being destroyed; enormous damage is being done to the environment."
Kakhovka demolition in Ukraine: Dam strategically located on the Dnipro River
First reported on 6 June: Kherson/Kiev - In Ukraine, the strategically important Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River near the front line in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson was apparently blown up early Tuesday morning. The Ukrainian Task Force South announced on Tuesday morning that the Russian occupiers had blown up the dam in the city of Nova Kakhovka. Moscow, on the other hand, accused Kiev of being responsible for the serious damage. The dam is located in the Russian-occupied part of the country.
Zelensky calls for emergency meeting over Kakhovka explosion
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council after the incident on Tuesday morning. This was announced by the Secretary of the Council, Oleksiy Danilov, on Twitter on Tuesday morning. Ukrainian media, meanwhile, showed the extent of the destruction. On Twitter, the online medium The Kyiev Independent shared a video of the situation on the ground. The scenes show the destroyed dam. Water masses push from the Kakhovka reservoir through open places to the west, where the river runs more narrowly. The extent of flooding to be expected has yet to be clarified.
Blowing up the Kakhovka dam near Kherson: these are the consequences for Ukraine
The severe damage to the Kakhovka Dam could have serious consequences. The military governor of the area, Olexander Prokudin, warned that the water level could reach a critical level within five hours. On the left side of the river, evacuations of residents have therefore begun. The city of Kherson, liberated from the Ukrainians, is also located there. The incident is thus once again shifting the Ukraine war away from the front line and into civilian areas - because the people of the country are ultimately the victims of the explosion. Damage could have general consequences for the water supply in Ukraine, specifically for the cooling water supply of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
On the southern - Russian-occupied - side of the river, there have been no evacuations so far. According to Russian state news agencies, the Moscow-appointed mayor of Nova Kakhovka said: "The water has risen". So far, however, it is not necessary to evacuate civilians. So far, it has not been possible to independently verify either of these figures.
Kakhovka dam severely damaged after blowing up - situation escalated in October
This is not the first time that the Kakhovka dam near Kherson has become the focus of the Ukraine war. Last October, Russia and Ukraine accused each other of planning to blow up the dam. According to its own statements, Moscow had already begun an evacuation of the then occupied city and was preparing for the fact that large settlement areas could be flooded.
Meanwhile, Kiev had warned against false accusations and expressed the suspicion that Moscow wanted to carry out the explosion itself and discredit Ukraine by apportioning blame. According to his own statements, Zelensky is said to have had information at the time that the Russian military had already laid mines. (with agencies)
