Russia had means, motive and opportunity to destroy Ukraine dam, drone photos and information show
Associated PressBERISLAV, Ukraine — Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to bring down a Ukrainian dam that collapsed earlier this month while under Russian control, according to exclusive drone photos and information obtained by The Associated Press. “Better for us, because it would have ended very badly for them, attacking there.” In the days leading up to the dam’s destruction on June 6, Ukrainian military drone videos showed dozens of Russian soldiers encamped on a bank of the Dnieper, relaxed as they walked back and forth to the dam with no cover — suggesting their confidence in their control of the area and especially the dam, which was strategically crucial. As recently as the day before the structure’s collapse, Russians had set up a firing position inside the dam’s crucial machine room, where Ukrhydroenergo, the agency that runs the dam system, said the explosion originated. The Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank that has monitored Russian actions in Ukraine since the war began, has assessed that “the balance of evidence, reasoning, and rhetoric suggests that the Russians deliberately damaged the dam.” The explosion detected at 2:54 a.m. local time registered on Norwegian seismic monitors at nearly magnitude 2.