Suffolk expert calls attack on Ukrainian dam "most damaging event of the Russian war in Ukraine"
Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the attack
Last updated 7th Jun 2023
An expert at the University of Suffolk says the destruction of a major dam in Ukraine may well be the most damaging event of the Russian invasion of the country so far.
Ukraine's accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper River, while Russian officials blamed Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area.
A state of emergency's been declared, thousands are evacuating as villages flood, and a special sitting of the UN Security Council's been held.
Where is the Dam?
Nova Kakhovka is located in Southern Ukraine but was taken by Russia at the start of Moscow's February 2022 invasion and has remained occupied by Russia ever since.
It was built in 1956 as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.
The reservoir it contains holds an estimated 18 cubic kilometres of water.
"The implications are massive"
Duncan Weaver is a senior lecturer at the University of Suffolk.
He studied international relations and politics for seven years and interned at the United Nations office in Geneva.
He told us the implications of the damage to this dam:
"The implications are massive and this is possibly the most damaging event of the Russian war in Ukraine.
"The Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine dams the Dnieper River, which is a major European river that flows through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, into the Black Sea.
- "It's important for three reasons... It provides hydroelectric power, provides fresh water to the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014, and crucially, it provides water to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power station- Europe's largest nuclear power station."
Why was the dam damaged?
Duncan Weaver told us why the dam may have been attacked:
"I think there are two possible possible explanations for this attack.
- "First is that the Ukrainian counteroffensive against the Russian Federation is beginning. The attack may be explained as an attempt at diversion of resources from that counter-offensive.
- "The second explanation is that this attack may be a diversion of attention from the counter-offensive... in recent weeks Vladimir Putin will have felt a significant need to show progress on the battlefield - after all, the Russian Federation, a former superpower, has, in recent weeks, sustained frankly embarrassing cross-border incursions, drone incursions, bombings and domestic dissidents.
"Ukrainian military intelligence this morning indicated that the Russian Federation would be feeling panic and may have attacked the Nova Kakhovka Dam as a result of that panic."