Ukraine says Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised troops for advances claimed near Bakhmut. DW has the latest.
Ednews informs via DW that the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has been blown up, Ukrainian and Russian officials said on Tuesday, threatening to flood areas downstream along the Dnipro River.
The Soviet-era hydroelectric plant also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.
"The Kakhovka [reservoir] was blown up by the Russian occupying forces," the South command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Tuesday morning on its Facebook page.
"The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified."
The Ukraine's Kherson regional administration said that the water level would reach a critical level in five hours and began evacuating the population from dangerous areas.
Videos on social media appeared to show significant damage to the dam.
The Moscow-installed mayor of the nearby town of Nova Kakhovka initially denied social media reports that the dam had been blown up, but later said the dam had been shelled in "a serious terrorist act."
Russian emergency services said around 80 settlements downstream could be affected.