Floodwaters engulf more areas of southern Ukraine after dam breach as hundreds evacuated

Floodwaters from a collapsed dam kept rising in southern Ukraine on June 7, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes in a major emergency operation that brought a dramatic new dimension to the war with Russia, now in its 16th month. Ukraine and Russia accused each other of blowing up a dam and causing widespread flooding in southern Ukraine, while Russia said it had thwarted another Ukrainian offensive in eastern Donetsk and inflicted heavy losses https://t.co/C9KF2vgJFNpic.twitter.com/gExti88uXl — Reuters June 6, 2023 The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and reservoir, one of the largest in the world and essential for the supply of drinking water and irrigation to a huge area of southern Ukraine, lies in a part of the Kherson region occupied by the Kremlin’s forces for the past year. “However, due to the significant destruction of the dam, the water will keep coming.” He said more than 1,800 houses were flooded along the Dnieper and that almost 1,500 people had been evacuated. Addressing who might be to blame, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, noted its earlier assessment that “the Russians have a greater and clearer interest in flooding the lower Dnieper despite the damage to their own prepared defensive positions.” Amid speculation that Ukraine may have secretly started its long-anticipated counteroffensive, the ISW said Russian forces may think breaching the dam could cover a possible retreat and delay Ukraine’s push. While the dam wasn’t entirely washed away, the ministry warned that its structure “is likely to deteriorate further over the next few days, causing additional flooding.” The dam helps provide irrigation and drinking water to a wide swath of southern Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.