The news caused concern on Tuesday that part of the dam in Novaya Kakhovka collapsedV Kherson in the department controlled Russia near the Dnieper.

Videos circulating on social media, which cannot currently be verified, show explosions at a dam in Nova Kakhovka on the Dnieper River. Other videos show how a huge amount of water pours out from under the rubble of the dam, and passers-by are shocked.

After Ukraine blamed Russia for the dam explosion, the head of the Kherson region urged residents to leave the area, warning that “in 5 hours the water will reach a critical level.”

Why is the dam so important?

Built in 1965, the dam has a massive reservoir about the size of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. It has 18 cubic kilometers of water in its reservoir.

Water from the reservoir supplies the Crimean peninsula in the south, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, as well as Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, in the north. Zaporozhye NPP needs an uninterrupted supply to cool its reactors. Thus, this could have “negative consequences” for the nuclear plant, as warned by the Ukrainian state nuclear energy company Energoatom, noting, however, that the situation is currently under control.

The collapse of the dam will exacerbate Ukraine’s energy problems as Russia systematically targeted its vital infrastructure earlier this year. Its collapse is also expected to affect the canal system that irrigates much of southern Ukraine, including Crimea.

The explosion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station will have devastating consequences, including a decade of water shortages in Crimea, irreparable damage to hundreds of thousands of lives and the risk of drowning for thousands. pic.twitter.com/aNluqHkPM9

— Mustafa Nayem (@mefimus) June 6, 2023

Have there been threats in the past?

Since the start of the war, the dam has been identified as a potential target due to its strategic importance. It was captured by Russia at the start of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion and has remained under Russian control ever since.

In October, as Ukraine reclaimed parts of occupied Kherson, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the West to warn Russia against blowing up the dam. At the time, he reported that Russian troops planted explosives in him.

What else happened this year?

In May, residents of a nearby village reported ongoing flooding, which they blamed on the Russian side. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, local residents said the water level began to rise in April, sometimes by 30cm a day.

Ukrainian officials then stated that “the rise in the water level of the Dnieper, which led to the flooding of settlements in the Zaporozhye region, is associated with the occupation of the Kakhovka dam by Russia.”