Ukraine has accused Russian forces of destroying a large dam, threatening to submerge the low-lying population.
According to the Associated Press news agency, Ukrainian authorities said on Tuesday that a large dam and hydroelectric power station in Russian-held southern Ukraine had been destroyed.
Ukrainian authorities have asked the population threatened by the dam to evacuate the area immediately.
On the other hand, the Russian authorities have said that the Kakhovka Dam has been destroyed by the Ukrainian army in an attack.
A dam failure could have a number of effects, including flooding of homes, streets and businesses, a drop in groundwater levels, problems keeping Europe’s largest nuclear power plant cool, and drinking water supplies to Russian-controlled Crimea. Can be affected.
It’s been 16 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, and with the destruction of the dam, the war is entering a new and complicated phase.
The forces of Ukraine are retaliating in order to wrest control from Russia, and fighting has spread over a 1,000-kilometre area on the east and south of the country.
In a statement, the nuclear department of Ukraine “Energavetum” said that the dam failure “will have negative effects on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, but the situation is currently under control.”
The UN nuclear agency has tweeted that its experts are assessing the situation at the Ukrainian power plant and that there is “no immediate danger.”
According to the Working Group to Assess the Effects of War on the Environment, if the dam is completely drained, it would be difficult to keep the nuclear power plant cool, and there could be a drinking water crisis in northern Crimea.
Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to the President of Ukraine, has said that “the destruction of global biology is now open, in the next few hours thousands of animals will die and the ecosystem will be destroyed.”