Evidence suggests that the collapse of a huge dam in Novaya Kakhovka, in Russian-controlled Ukraine, is the result of an explosion provoked by the Russians, The New York Times reports, citing engineers and experts. .

The newspaper reports that it has found evidence that an explosive charge in a tunnel that passes through the concrete foundation of a Soviet-era dam was detonated, collapsing the structure, on June 6.

The evidence clearly indicates that the dam was blown up by an explosion provoked by Russia in the part it controls, The New York Times reports, News.ro reports.

The concrete base of the hydroelectric power station, located below the water level and having a height of 20 meters and a width of up to 40 meters, withstood most of the load of the dam. Nine days after the collapse of the dam, the user “War Whistleblower” published a video of the aftermath of the disaster, according to the New York Times: where the dam was destroyed, no concrete base was visible, and the part of the dam that escaped the destruction had only the upper part.

Inside the concrete base was a technical tunnel that could be accessed from the engine room, which was under Russian control. The tunnel is marked on plans that New York Times journalists say they have seen, Ukrainian publication Nexta also writes.

“Conclusion with a degree of reliability over 80%”

In addition, a group of experts assisting Ukrainian prosecutors in the investigation said on Friday that it was “highly likely” that the collapse of the Kakhovskaya Dam in southern Ukraine was caused by explosives planted by the Russians.

Experts from the international human rights law firm Global Rights Compliance, which supports efforts to prosecute those guilty of crimes committed in Ukraine, visited the Kherson region on June 10-11 together with the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and a team of the International Criminal Service. court.

“Evidence and analysis of available information, which includes seismic sensors and discussions with leading collapse experts, indicate that there is a high probability that the collapse was caused by pre-planted explosives at vital points in the dam’s structure,” it said. a summary of preliminary findings from the law firm’s team seen by Reuters.

Yusuf Syed Khan, a senior lawyer at Global Rights Compliance who participated in the Kherson field mission, said that this conclusion that the dam was blown up by the Russian side with pre-planted explosives “is at least 80% predictable.”

This discovery is based not only on seismic sensors and one of the leading providers of open-source information, but also on patterns of attacks and other strikes that we have documented,” he said in an interview. They also include previous attacks on critical infrastructure water, including plants and pipelines, he said.

They rejected the theory that the dam’s catastrophic failure could only have been caused by mismanagement.

Russia accuses Ukraine of destroying the dam

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of destroying the Kakhovskaya Dam as a tactic of the West to escalate the conflict.

Ukraine is investigating the explosion as a war crime and possible criminal environmental destruction, or “ecocide.”

The large Soviet-era Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which had been under Russian control since the February 2022 invasion, was destroyed in the early morning hours of June 6, causing massive flooding along a stretch of the southern Ukrainian front, destroying farmland and cutting off water supplies to much of the population.

More than 3,600 people were evacuated from flooded areas in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, 31 people are considered missing, almost 1,300 houses remain flooded, the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine reported late on Saturday.

The head of the UN Atomic Energy Agency, Raphael Grossi, who was at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, said that the situation at the site was “serious” but that the level of cooling water was sufficient after the dam was blown up.