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A torrent of water burst through a gaping hole in a dam on the Dnipro River that separates Russian and Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine on Tuesday (June 6), flooding a swathe of the war zone and forcing villagers to flee. Video obtained by Reuters showed dam building partially submerged in water. Reuters was able to verify the location of the videos as Nova Kakhovka dam. Building characteristics, signage, road layout and other structures around the dam matched file and satellite imagery. Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up the dam from the inside in a deliberate war crime. Russian-installed officials gave conflicting accounts, some blaming Ukrainian shelling, others saying the dam had burst on its own. The Nova Kakhovka dam supplies water to Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, both under Russian control. The vast reservoir behind it is one of the main geographic features of southern Ukraine, 240 km (150 miles) long and up to 23 km (14 miles) wide. A swathe of countryside lies in the flood plain below. The destruction of the dam creates a new humanitarian disaster in the center of the war zone and transforms the front lines just as Ukraine is unleashing a long-awaited counteroffensive to drive Russian troops from its territory. Russia has controlled the dam since early in the war, although Ukrainian forces recaptured the northern side of the river last year. Both sides had long accused the other of planning to destroy it. The dam is also considered vital to the power and water supply for the Crimean Peninsula.
