KYIV: The wall of a major dam in southern Ukraine collapsed on Tuesday, triggering floods, endangering Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and threatening drinking water supplies as both sides in the war rushed to evacuate residents and blamed each other for the destruction.
Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam in Kherson and hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper river in an area that Moscow controls, while Russian officials blamed Ukrainian bombardment in the contested area. It was not possible to verify the claims.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said lack of cooling water at Zaporizhzhia could disrupt its emergency diesel generators though the situation at the plant is said to be under control.
The potentially far-reaching environmental and social consequences of the disaster quickly became clear as homes, streets and businesses flooded downstream and emergency crews began evacuation, officials raced to check cooling systems at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and authorities expressed concern about supplies of drinking water to the south in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.