Kakhovka Dam Destroyed: Russia | Gansu Concrete Mixer Co.,Ltd

Kyiv June 7, 10:43 a.m.

Moscow June 7, 10:43 a.m.

Washington June 7, 3:43 a.m.

Evacuation and rescue efforts continued a day after the Kakhovka dam was destroyed, affecting tens of thousands of people.

Victoria Kim and Andrew E. Kramer

Rescue and evacuation efforts were continuing on Wednesday in an expansive area of southern Ukraine flooded by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam a day earlier, as an additional mass displacement and humanitarian disaster unfolded in the midst of war.

Floodwaters, expected to peak Wednesday morning, engulfed streets and homes in dozens of communities, sent residents fleeing on boats, and dislodged roofs, which floated away. An estimated 16,000 people are affected on the Ukraine-controlled western bank, and 25,000 more people live on the eastern bank under Russian control.

The Russia-installed administrators of Nova Kakhovka, the city where the dam and the attached hydroelectric plant are, said floodwaters had begun receding Wednesday morning. Seven people were reported missing, they said, in the first indication of the human toll.

Experts said a deliberate explosion inside the Kakhovka dam, which has been under Russian control since early in the war, most likely caused the massive structure of steel-reinforced concrete to crumble. Moscow called the blast an act of Ukrainian sabotage. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said the only reasonable explanation was that Russian forces had blown up the dam to "use the flood as a weapon."

Ukrainian officials pushed back against assessments that the destruction of the dam, a major crossing of the Dnipro River along the front lines of the war, could undermine its counteroffensive to retake Russian-held territory. American and Russian officials said this week that the counteroffensive might have begun east of the Dnipro.

Mr. Zelensky said Russian equipment had been flooded and that the blast "did not affect Ukraine's ability to de-occupy its own territories."

Here are the latest developments:

Fighting continued to rage on Tuesday and Wednesday. Russia launched 35 long-range missiles of various types and carried out 41 airstrikes over the past 24 hours, Ukraine's military headquarters said in its morning update on Wednesday. Along the front line, soldiers fought in 30 engagements, it said.

Ukrainian officials said that in addition to the humanitarian crisis, the flooding would cause a widespread ecological disaster. Mr. Zelensky said an oil slick of "at least 150 tons" was being washed out to the Black Sea and that untold chemicals, fertilizers and oil products in the flood regions would end up in the rivers and the sea.

The flooding could increase the risk posed by land mines by exposing underground mines planted on the banks of the Dnipro River by Russian and Ukrainian forces and washing them downstream, according to the United Nations and groups working to clear the mines.

The draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir created by the dam will have significant effects on agriculture and drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. It could also affect safety at the nearby Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which relies on the reservoir to cool its reactors.

Marc Santora

As Ukrainian rescue workers were racing to pull people from the floods in Kherson on Tuesday, Russian forces launched some 70 attacks on the city, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Wednesday.

Marc Santora

The water level in Kherson is expected to rise by an additional three feet or so before subsiding, the head of the Kherson regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said. As of early Wednesday morning, more than 1,800 houses had been flooded in areas controlled by Ukraine, and more than 1,400 people had been evacuated, he said.

Areas of confirmed flooding

5 miles

HELD BY

UKRAINE

Detail area

Damaged grain

elevator

Mykolaivka

Kakhovka

reservoir

Burhunka

Olhivka

Lvove

Tianhynka

Kakhovka dam

Odradokam'yanka

Tokarivka

Poniativka

Ivanivka

Korsunka

Nova Kakhovka

Flooded areas

on both riverbanks

Krynky

Dnipriany

Mykilske

Kozachi Laheri

Sadove

Center of

Nova Kakhovka

submerged

Pishchane

Prydniprovske

Flooding reported in

multiple villages

downstream

of the dam

Antonivka

Dachi

Kherson

Bilozerka

Widespread

flooding west

of Kherson

Waterfront

Slavy Park

Oleshky

Highway

Heavy flooding

reported

To Black Sea

Oleshky Sands

Nature Park

Kardashynka

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Stara Zbur’ivka

Areas of confirmed flooding

5 miles

UKRAINE

HELD BY

UKRAINE

Detail area

Damaged grain

elevator

Mykolaivka

Kakhovka

reservoir

Burhunka

Olhivka

Lvove

Kakhovka

dam

Tianhynka

Odradokam'yanka

Tokarivka

Poniativka

Ivanivka

Korsunka

Nova Kakhovka

Flooded areas

on both riverbanks

Krynky

Mykilske

Dnipriany

Sadove

Kozachi Laheri

Center of

Nova Kakhovka

submerged

Antonivka

Pishchane

Flooding reported in

multiple villages

downstream

of the dam

Prydniprovske

Dachi

Kherson

Bilozerka

Widespread

flooding west

of Kherson

Waterfront

Slavy Park

Oleshky

Highway

Heavy flooding

reported

To Black Sea

Oleshky Sands

Nature Park

Kardashynka

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Stara Zbur’ivka

Areas of confirmed flooding

Kakhovka

reservoir

UKRAINE

Detail area

Kakhovka

dam

Center of

Nova Kakhovka

submerged

Damaged

grain

elevator

Nova

Kakhovka

Dnipriany

Mykolaivka

Burhunka

Pishchane

Olhivka

Lvove

Krynky

Flooding reported in

multiple villages

downstream

of the dam

Tianhynka

Ivanivka

Tokarivka

Kozachi Laheri

HELD BY

UKRAINE

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Poniativka

Flooded

areas on both

riverbanks

Sadove

Heavy

flooding

reported

Highway

Mykilske

Prydniprovske

Oleshky

Antonivka

Dachi

Kardashynka

Kherson

Widespread

flooding west

of Kherson

To Black Sea

Stara

Zbur’ivka

Bilozerka

5 miles

Note: Satellite image is from before the flooding.

Sources: Planet Labs PBC; Institute for the Study of War with American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project; Google Maps.

By Lauren Leatherby, Lazaro Gamio, Marco Hernandez and Haley Willis

Andrew E. Kramer

The effects on southern Ukraine were becoming clearer Wednesday morning. The agriculture minister said that 94 percent of agricultural irrigation systems in the Kherson region, 74 percent in Zaporizhzhia and 30 percent in Dnipropetrovsk would be left without a water source.

Victoria Kim

At least seven people have been reported missing in the flooding, the Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing the Russia-installed head of Nova Kakhovka.

Victoria Kim

If the Kakhovka Reservoir continues to drain at the current rate, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant will no longer be able to pump water from the reservoir to replenish cooling ponds at the plant "in the next couple of days," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

Victoria Kim

Even at that level, though, the existing water at the plant and other sources can be used "for some time" to cool the reactors and spent fuel pools, the agency said. The plant has enough water stored to supply the plant for several months because its reactors are not operating, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the agency's director, said.

Andrew E. Kramer

Fighting raged on Tuesday and Wednesday as a humanitarian catastrophe unfolded along the Dnipro River. Russia launched 35 long-range missiles and carried out 41 airstrikes over the past 24 hours, Ukraine's military said in its morning update Wednesday. Along the fron tline, soldiers fought in 30 engagements, it said.

Kwame Opam

The destruction of a pivotal dam in Ukraine was widely condemned at a tense United Nations Security Council meeting on Tuesday during which Kyiv's allies demanded Russia be held accountable for the invasion without directly blaming Moscow for the dam's collapse.

"It was Russia that started this war, it was Russia that occupied this area of Ukraine, and it was Russian forces that took over the dam illegally last year and have been occupying ever since," Ambassador Robert Wood, a United States representative to the U.N., said.

Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for the collapse of the Kakhovka dam early Tuesday morning. Ukraine claims Russia detonated a bomb inside the structure, while the Kremlin has said Ukrainian saboteurs destroyed it. Whoever was responsible, Ukrainians and Russians on both sides of the Dnipro River must contend with a massive disaster.

During the meeting, the Russian ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, again laid blame on Ukraine for the dam's collapse, calling it an "unthinkable crime." Mr. Nebenzya painted the dam's destruction as part of a Ukrainian plan to improve its position for a counteroffensive and to intimidate the civilian population. "We call on the U.N. Secretary General to finally give an objective assessment of the terrorist actions of the Kyiv regime and condemn them," he said.

But the Ukrainian ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, addressing the Security Council, called the destruction of the dam "a terrorist act" by Russia that "aims at causing as many civilian casualties and as much destruction as possible."

A few countries directly accused Russia of destroying the dam, including Albania, Latvia and Poland.

But Ukraine's most powerful allies on the Security Council, including the United States and Britain, stopped short of accusing Moscow. They focused their comments on the human suffering in the Kherson region, where flooding caused by the dam's collapse has forced people to flee their homes. Ukrainian officials estimate there are about 16,000 people on the Ukrainian-controlled western bank and another 25,000 people on the Russian-controlled eastern bank who are in the path of flooding.

"This act has put thousands of civilians in danger and is causing severe environmental damage to the surrounding area," James Kariuki, Britain's deputy ambassador to the U.N., said. "Flooding threatens to contaminate water supplies and vital natural habitats. Vast swathes of agricultural land and electricity supplies are also at risk. And this in turn threatens food production and the international food trade."

The French ambassador, Nicolas de Rivière, noted the loss of the dam also affects the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which uses the reservoir created by the dam for cooling fuel and now must rely on a backup cooling pond. "The destruction of the dam further increases the threats to the safety and security systems of the Zaporizhzhia power plant," he said.

Laurence Tan

Satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies, one in color and one in black and white, show port facilities and an industrial area in the city of Kherson before and after they were flooded on Tuesday when the Kakhovka dam collapsed.

Andrew E. Kramer

KRYVIY RIH, Ukraine — The loss of a large reservoir above a blown-up dam in southern Ukraine poses no immediate risk of a meltdown at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, even though the plant uses the reservoir water for cooling, the head of Ukraine's state-owned nuclear company said Tuesday in an interview.

That's because the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was designed to let engineers shut down its six nuclear reactors even in the event the Kakhovka dam were to collapse and the reservoir to drain, as is now happening. The plant can still draw water from a large cooling pond on the grounds.

"There are design conditions which were calculated for this event," Petro Kotin, the president of Energoatom, said. "There are no dire consequences that are critical for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant."

Mr. Kotin said the plant can be kept safe after losing the reservoir as its primary source of cooling water if the Russian force occupying the site manages it correctly.

"The possibility of a radiation release now depends on their actions, what they have on their minds, what they do with the nuclear materials in their possession," Mr. Kotin said.

All six of the plant's reactors are currently shut down but still require water to circulate in their cores to dissipate residual heat from nuclear reactions. Each reactor also needs water for a cooling pond for spent fuel.

Supplying cooling water at the plant now, and perhaps for years to come, will depend on maintaining water levels in the site's cooling pond, which used to be fed by the reservoir.

The plant has wells that can be drawn on to refill the pond. As an additional safety measure put into place after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011, it also has six truck-mounted pumps that can be driven to a water source — such as the Dnipro River running through the bed of the drained reservoir — and pump cooling water through pipes back to the plant.

These trucks were originally envisioned as backups for individual reactors but could be used to refill the plant's cooling pond, Mr. Kotin said.

The plant's operating manuals say the reactors can be shut down safely, the fuel inside the cores can be cooled and water can be circulated in the spent-fuel cooling pools for 12 years drawing only on the large on-site pond, Mr. Kotin said. This is longer than three to eight years required to cool fuel after a reactor shutdown so it can be safely transferred to dry storage, he said.

Without a reliable source of additional cooling water, he added, the reactors cannot be restarted. And if the Russian occupying force restarts a reactor, he said, the additional heat will cause cooling water to evaporate more quickly and the water levels in the pond could drop.

One big worry for Ukrainian officials is that the Russians might sabotage the plant or damage the reactors to accomplish some war aim, Mr. Kotin said. If it is established the Russians were responsible for blowing up the dam, as Ukraine claims, it would only reinforce those fears.

"They threaten the whole world with their presence," Mr. Kotin said of the Russian occupation force at the site. To secure the site, he said, "we need to liberate the plant, get them out and put our staff in as the legal operator."

Maria Varenikovacontributed reporting.

James Glanz, Marc Santora, Riley Mellen and Richard Pérez-Peña

A deliberate explosion inside the Kakhovka dam, on the front line of the war in Ukraine, most likely caused its collapse on Tuesday, according to engineering and munitions experts, who said that structural failure or an attack from outside the dam were possible but less plausible explanations.

Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for the failure, noting that Moscow's military forces — which have repeatedly struck Ukrainian infrastructure since invading last year — controlled the dam spanning the Dnipro River, putting them in a position to detonate explosives from within.

"It was mined by the Russian occupiers. And they blew it up," President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine wrote on social media.

Russian officials, in turn, blamed Ukraine, but did not elaborate on how that might have been done.

"We are talking about deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side," Dmitry S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters.

Experts cautioned that the available evidence was very limited, but they said that an internal explosion was the likeliest reason for destruction of the dam, a massive structure of steel-reinforced concrete, completed in 1956. And local residents reported on social media that they heard a huge explosion around the time the dam was breached, at 2:50 a.m.

A blast in an enclosed space, with all of its energy applied against the structure around it, would do the most damage — and even then, they said, it would require hundreds of pounds of explosives, at least, to breach the damn. An external detonation by a bomb or missile would exert only a fraction of its force against the dam, and would require an explosive many times larger to achieve a similar effect.

The Kakhovka dam had been damaged repeatedly in more than a year amid heavy fighting, and each side has accused the other of shelling it. The Russians captured it last year when they advanced to the Dnipro and beyond, but months later the Ukrainians pushed Russian forces off the west bank, turning the river — and the dam — into part of the boundary between the warring sides. The Russians held onto the dam itself.

It is not clear, though, that the kind of damage the dam had sustained was anywhere near enough to cause it to break down.

"Dams do fail; it's absolutely possible," said Gregory B. Baecher, a professor of engineering at the University of Maryland and member of the National Academy of Engineering, who has studied dam failures. But, he added, "I look at this and say, ‘Gosh, this looks suspicious.’"

Since early May, water has risen above the gates and crested over the top of the dam. Satellite images taken last week showed more of the roadway gone. When dams collapse because of unusually heavy water flows, the failures normally would start on the earthen part of the dam, on either bank, Mr. Baecher said.

But photos and videos show that the Kakhovka dam was first breached in the middle, next to the power plant adjoining the Russian-held bank. Both ends of the dam appeared to be intact at first, though as the day went on, more and more of it collapsed.

A combination of damaged sluice gates and high water might tear away a few gates, but would not be expected to rip apart so much of the dam, Mr. Baecher said.

James C. McKinley Jr.

The National Police of Ukraine said on Tuesday night that at least 23 towns and villages had been flooded, and the water level in the Dnipro River had risen by nearly 11 feet in the city of Kherson since the dam burst. By 9 p.m. local time, 1,366 people had been evacuated from flooded zones, the police said. Many were rescued by boat. There were no casualties.

Kwame Opam

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine argued on Twitter that Russia was behind the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, pointing out that Moscow controlled the dam and saying it was impossible to destroy it from the outside with shelling. "It was mined by the Russian occupiers," he wrote. "And they blew it up." He called the resulting flood the largest man-made disaster in Europe in decades. "Russia has detonated a bomb of mass environmental destruction," he said.

Tyler Hicks

Evacuations were going on in other places besides the flooded banks of the Dnipro River. Anna Vasilivana Rudenko, 69, was evacuated from her apartment in Toretsk, in the eastern Donetsk region, by Vostok SOS, a volunteer organization that rescues civilians from conflict zones. In the city, an apartment building was damaged by bombing from a Russian aircraft.

Aurelien Breeden

France said on Tuesday that it stood "ready to assist the Ukrainian authorities in dealing with the consequences" of the destroyed dam. "The partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam last night is a particularly serious act," the French foreign ministry said in a statement. "It illustrates once again the tragic consequences of an aggression for which Russia bears sole responsibility."

Kwame Opam

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, denounced Russia on Twitter for what she called "war crimes committed in Ukraine," saying that the destruction of the Kakhovka dam put thousands of people in the Kherson region at risk. In a followup tweet, she added that the E.U. is coordinating with member states to deliver dirt water pumps, fire hoses, mobile water purification stations and boats to Ukraine.

Kwame Opam

Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson regional military administration, said that 1,364 people had been evacuated from the flooded areas and that 1,335 houses had flooded.

Eric Schmitt

Some military analysts struck a cautionary note about trying to assign blame for the destruction of the dam with limited information. "It's too early to tell whether this is a deliberate act by Russia or the result of negligence and prior damage inflicted to the dam," said Michael Kofman, the director of Russian studies at CNA, a research institute in Arlington, Va. Mr. Kofman noted the disaster "ultimately benefits nobody."

Aishvarya Kavi

John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the United States has been monitoring the effects of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam but that he could not confirm news reports that Russia was responsible. "We are working with the Ukrainians to gather more information," Kirby said. "We know there are casualties, including likely many deaths, though these are early reports and we cannot quantify them."

Aishvarya Kavi

Asked if the U.S. would consider the destruction to be a war crime, Kirby said it was too early to determine. But he stressed that Russia was illegally occupying the dam at the time of the explosion. "It's very clear that the deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure is not allowed by the laws of war," he said.

Matthew Mpoke Bigg

A large pond next to the Kakhovka reservoir contains enough water to cool the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant for "some months," lessening the immediate risk posed to the plant when the reservoir's dam was destroyed on Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement. "It is therefore vital that this cooling pond remains intact," the statement said. "Nothing must be done to potentially undermine its integrity."

Matthew Mpoke Bigg

A team of U.N. inspectors based at the nuclear plant will continue to monitor the situation and the agency's director, Rafael Mariano Grossi, plans to visit the nuclear power plant next week, the statement said.

Farnaz Fassihi

The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on Ukraine today at 4 p.m. and diplomats will be briefed by senior U.N. officials on the situation on the ground. The U.N. said the scope of damages from the destruction of the dam is under assessment but it has dispatched teams of humanitarian workers to assist the evacuees.

Farnaz Fassihi

The U.N. secretary general, Antonio Guterres, decried the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, calling it a "monumental humanitarian, economic and ecological catastrophe" and "yet another example of the horrific price of war on people."

Max Bearak

Because of the war's toll on Ukraine's economy, electricity usage is far lower than it once was — so much so that Ukraine exported small amounts of electricity from its grid to nearby parts of Europe last summer.

John Yoon and Kwame Opam

Dnipro

River

Kryvyi Rih

Zaporizhzhia

HELD BY

UKRAINE

Nikopol

Kakhovka

reservoir

Zaporizhzhia nuclear

power plant

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Areas

evacuated

Kyiv

UKRAINE

Kakhovka dam and

power plant

Nova

Kakhovka

Kherson

Detail area

Dnipro

River

Kyiv

UKRAINE

Zaporizhzhia

Detail area

Kakhovka

reservoir

HELD BY

UKRAINE

Zaporizhzhia nuclear

power plant

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Areas

evacuated

Kakhovka dam and

power plant

Kherson

Nova

Kakhovka

Dnipro

River

Kryvyi Rih

Zaporizhzhia

HELD BY

UKRAINE

Nikopol

Kakhovka

reservoir

Zaporizhzhia nuclear

power plant

HELD BY

RUSSIA

Areas

evacuated

Kyiv

Kakhovka dam and

power plant

UKRAINE

Nova

Kakhovka

Kherson

Detail area

Sources: Institute for the Study of War with American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project; Google Maps.

A critical dam on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine broke overnight on Tuesday, endangering tens of thousands of people who live downstream. It was not clear what caused the breach. Ukraine blamed Russia, saying there had been an explosion in an engine room. Russia said the Ukrainian forces had carried out sabotage.

Ukrainian officials began evacuating people in the Kherson region on Tuesday as huge volumes of water gushed from the dam's reservoir. Floodwaters were expected to rise through the night and peak on Wednesday morning, the head of state-owned hydropower company said in an interview.

The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, decried the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, calling it a "monumental humanitarian, economic and ecological catastrophe" and "yet another example of the horrific price of war on people."

Videos of the dam, in the town of Nova Kakhovka, reviewed by The New York Times do not reveal what caused the destruction. But they do show water flowing freely through the dam, indicating severe damage.

A day before the disaster, American and Russian officials said a planned Ukrainian counteroffensive appeared to have begun east of the Dnipro River in the Donetsk region. The flooding could divert both sides’ attention and resources from that counteroffensive.

Located near the front line of the war in the southern Kherson region, the dam and nearby infrastructure have been damaged by shelling throughout the war. The area including the dam and the adjacent hydroelectric plant has been occupied by Russian forces since last year. The Ukrainians now say the power plant cannot be restored.

Engineering and munitions experts said that an internal explosion was the most likely cause of the destruction.

On Tuesday, Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the destruction, without offering evidence.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine blamed "Russian terrorists," while the Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, blamed Ukrainian forces, describing what happened as sabotage.

"They decided that now, in this way, they will be able to stop the counteroffensive of Ukrainian forces," Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's southern command, told Radio Svoboda on Tuesday.

Sergei K. Shoigu, Russia's defense minister, accused Ukraine of destroying the dam, saying Kyiv wanted to move forces and equipment defending Kherson to other parts of the front to help with its counteroffensive.

Security of the dam, a vital source of water and power, has been a continuing concern during the war, with both sides accusing the other of plotting to destroy it.

Communities along the waterway are at risk of being flooded and washed away. More than 40,000 people could be in the path of flooding on both the Russian- and Ukrainian-controlled sides of the river, according to the deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine.

In telephone interviews arranged by a group distributing humanitarian aid in Antonivka, residents described how they had watched as rising waters crept from house to house. They kept their distance from the river bank, where Russian snipers on the opposite side have in the past fired at residents, they said.

The eastern bank of the river, south of the dam, is controlled by Russian forces.

The damage threatens to disrupt vital services provided by the dam's reservoir. It will cause a severe shortage of drinking water in the Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, Ihor Syrota, the hydropower company chief, said.

Flooding could also wash mines from their original positions into previously safe areas, posing a fatal risk to civilians returning to their homes. Russian officials say the destruction could pose problems for a canal supplying water to Crimea.

It also provides water for the cooling of reactors and spent fuel at the nearby Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, but Ukrainian officials and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Tuesday that the facility is not at immediate risk of meltdown as a result of the damage to the dam.

Towns continued to disappear under the water flowing from the reservoir early Wednesday, forcing more residents to evacuate. In Nova Kakhovka, where the dam is, the city hall and Palace of Culture were inundated.

Floodwaters swept even areas miles downriver. Residents in one village could be seen wading through their front yards, rescuing pets and belongings. Roads were submerged, putting people trying to escape at risk of being stranded.

The magnitude of the flooding's impact is difficult to gauge as waters are still rising. Reliable information is hard to come by, especially from the Russian-held areas east of the Dnipro River. Shelling has continued as residents escape their flooded homes.