Ukraine says Russia targeted Kiev’s dam in a massive barrage

Mylovanov shared video footage that appeared to show flames and damage to the dam, but noted that the dam was “holding”.

However, he said that if the dam collapsed, “a significant part of Kyiv would be flooded.”

The Kiev hydroelectric plant is located about four miles north of the city’s outer limits on the Dnipro River and is a crucial part of Ukraine’s energy supply.

The Kyiv Regional Military Administration said two energy facilities in the region were damaged in Monday’s attack, without elaborating.

The Kyiv Independent reported that there appeared to be some localized damage to the dam, while an unnamed manager of Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrhydroenergo told Forbes Ukraine that Russia had targeted the plant with missiles and drones.

But official assessments suggest that it would be very difficult for Russia to destroy the dam.

Ihor Syrota, head of Ukrhydroenergo, said in July that it would be “practically impossible” to destroy the plant from the outside.

Russia would have to drop more bombs from aircraft that would have to travel far beyond the front line to do so, he said.

Ukrainian officials played out several possible scenarios in the event of a catastrophic dam failure.

In a worst-case scenario, the plant would be destroyed, RBC Ukraine reported, and water levels could rise by nearly 10 feet in several districts of the capital, media said.

However, even in this case, the residents of Kiev would have time to move, they say.

In July, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed without evidence that Ukraine was preparing to destroy the dam, Russian state-controlled publication TASS reported.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry quickly dismissed the allegation as “absurd”, saying: “There can be no realistic purpose or reason for Ukraine to destroy its own infrastructure.”

On Monday, Andrii Kovalenko, the head of a Ukrainian government counter-disinformation unit, discouraged comparisons with the June 2023 destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied Kherson, which was blown up from the inside.

Russia has accused Ukraine of being responsible for its destruction, but US and European officials have concluded that Russia was behind the attack.

Dozens of people died in the floods that followed, with thousands of civilians forced to flee their homes. There has also been lasting environmental damage.