Ukraine war: Who stands to gain from blowing up Kakhovka dam? | DW News

The Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has been blown up, Ukrainian and Russian officials said on Tuesday, threatening to flood areas downstream along the Dnieper River, also called the Dnipro River. Ukraine’s state hydroelectric company said the power plant had been “totally destroyed“ after a detonation inside the engine room. Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the damage and have offered conflicting versions on the safety situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, some 150 kilometers away. The Soviet-era dam also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula downstream, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and supplies a reservoir upstream to the Zaporizhzhia power plant. Several islands have flooded while both Ukrainian and Russian-installed authorities said some 80 settlements downstream were at risk of being inundated. Subscribe: For more news go to: