Millions of liters of water poured over the collapsed section of a Russian-controlled dam on June 6, flooding a war zone in southern Ukraine.
Water flows through the breach at the Nova Kakhovka dam on June 6.
The dam explosion threatened to flood several villages and cut off water supplies. Ukrainian and Russian forces blamed each other for the dam explosion.
The Nova Kakhovka Dam, which has a water volume equivalent to that of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Twitter that it was closely monitoring the situation, but there was "no immediate nuclear safety risk at the Zaporizhzhia plant", also in southern Ukraine.
Evacuation of people near the dam has begun and water levels are expected to reach dangerous levels in the next few hours.
However, the State Atomic Energy Agency of Ukraine (Energoatom) said the water level of the Kakhovka reservoir is falling rapidly, posing a new "threat" to the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
About 22,000 people living in 14 settlements in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine are at risk of flooding, Russia's RIA news agency quoted the head of the region as saying. Water levels rose several metres in just a few hours.
A Russian-appointed official in the town of Nova Kakhovka said on June 6 that residents of about 300 homes had been evacuated, Russian state news agency TASS reported. He said it may be impossible to repair the dam.
Millions of litres of water have poured through the breach after the dam exploded, leaving many villages at risk of being submerged.
Russian news agencies said the dam was blown up in the shelling, while the mayor of the Russian-controlled city of Nova Kahhovka accused it of being a "terrorist act", referring to a Ukrainian attack.
The Russian-appointed head of the Kherson region confirmed that evacuation of people near the dam had begun, and that water levels would reach dangerous levels within five hours.
The Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant has been “completely destroyed” and beyond repair following an explosion inside its engine room, Ukraine’s state hydropower company said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold an emergency meeting on the dam explosion, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said on Twitter on June 6.
According to vtv.vn
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