Rising floodwaters are causing further damage in the regions surrounding the collapsed Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in Southern Ukraine. As a result, more residents are being forced to abandon their homes while officials scramble to distribute drinking water and determine long-term resettlement plans.
According to official reports, over 2,700 people have vacated their homes in the day following the dam’s collapse. The Kakhovka reservoir provides much-needed drinking and irrigation water for Southern Ukraine’s heavily populated regions, including the Crimea.
The dam is situated along the Dnieper River, an area which Russia currently occupies and which comprises part of the front lines in Russia’s war on Ukraine. The river’s western bank is held by Ukraine, while Russia controls the eastern side.
Communities are evacuating, with footage showing residents carrying children on their backs or waiting on roofs to avoid the rising waters.
The extent of the damage and the reason behind the dam’s collapse remain unclear. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has accused Russia of orchestrating the attack, allegations which Russia has denied. “For the sake of their own security, the world should now show that Russia will not get away with such terror,” Zelensky tweeted, claiming Russia planned the attack. “The whole world knows about this Russian war crime, the crime of ecocide—the deliberate destruction of the dam and other structures of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant by the Russian occupiers. In fact, Russian terrorists have detonated an environmental bomb of mass destruction.”
Some experts have suggested the reservoir’s collapse could be due to natural neglect resulting from the attention demanded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over the past year. Others, including the Institute for the Study of War, said Russia has a vested interest in flooding the lower Dnieper, despite damaging their own prepared defensive positions.
Zelensky has stated officials are working to ensure supplies are delivered, but those residing on the Russian-occupied side of the river impacted by flooding will not receive aid.
The dam collapsed as Ukraine prepared for an imminent counteroffensive against Russia, a pivotal moment in the war.
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