Ukrainian captain says Russian soldiers swept away by floodwaters in Kherson

A Ukrainian serviceman said he saw Russian soldiers being swept away by floodwaters or "fleeing in chaos" from the Dnieper riverside area after the Kahkovka dam burst.

"At around 3 a.m., the enemy collapsed the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam, causing the water level to rise, flooding the approaches and the eastern bank of the Dnieper River. This makes it impossible for the Ukrainian army to advance in the future," Ukrainian captain Andrei Pidlisnyi told CNN on June 6.

Pidlisnyi said his unit monitored the area with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and believed that many Russian soldiers were swept away by floodwaters, killed or injured as they fled in the chaos. However, Pidlisnyi did not provide video evidence.

According to Pidlisnyi, the area where Russian forces were stationed on the east bank of the Dnieper River is low-lying and was severely affected by the dam collapse. "The east bank is lower than the west bank, so it was flooded more. The enemy stronghold was also flooded, including the trenches and houses where they were stationed," Pidlisnyi said.

Andrei Pidlisnyi. Photo: CNN — Andrei Pidlisnyi. Photo: *CNN*

The Kahkovka hydroelectric dam in Kherson region collapsed on June 6. Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the collapse, but have not provided convincing evidence. Some Western experts believe that the Kahkovka dam collapsed due to structural weakness.

Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of shelling the Kahkovka Dam to destroy the surface road that was used to supply its forces on the west bank of the Dnieper River before withdrawing. After Russia withdrew its troops, a section of the bridge over the Kahkovka Dam near the west bank was destroyed.

Devastation downstream after Kherson dam collapse — Devastation downstream after Kherson dam burst. Video: *RusVesna*

After the Kahkovka Dam broke, water from the reservoir with a capacity of about 18 billion cubic meters flooded downstream of the Dnieper, submerging many residential areas, villages and some urban areas along the river. Tens of thousands of civilians in Kherson province had to be evacuated.

The Soviet Union began construction of the Kahkovka hydroelectric power plant with the dam of the same name in 1950, and the project was completed in 1956. The reservoir of the Kahkovka hydroelectric power plant provides irrigation water for the Crimean peninsula and cooling for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.