![]() ![]() The size of the explosion is said to discount an external attack as being the cause. Seismic signals from an explosion at the dam were picked up on sensors at 2.35am and 2.54am on 6 June. Last week the international human rights law firm Global Rights Compliance, acting in support of Ukraine’s general prosecutor, said it believed it was “highly likely Russian forces deliberately destroyed the dam”, and that a recently passed Russian law that prohibits investigations into incidents at hydrotechnical structures in Russian-occupied Ukraine offered compelling albeit circumstantial evidence for that case. The image of the white car parked at the top of the dam is just the latest piece in the puzzle, with experts counselling that an authoritative assessment cannot be made until independent engineers are given access. He did concede that Ukraine’s offensive plans may have been impacted by the flooding of the Dnipro River, which Ukrainian forces need to cross to access the parts of Kherson controlled by Moscow. Vladimir Putin told military bloggers in a recent meeting he had no interest in damaging the dam, which flooded territory controlled by Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskiy has long claimed that the dam was mined by Russia. Ukrainian officials claimed to the Associated Press that Russian troops had set up a firing position in the dam shortly before the blast. The warring countries have traded accusations as to who was responsible for the environmental and human disaster. Russian officials said 35 people had died in the areas of Kherson that were under its control while Ukraine’s interior ministry said they were aware of 17 deaths and 31 people who had gone missing. On Monday the death toll was raised to 52. More than 11,000 people have been evacuated since the dam collapsed on 6 June, flooding land downstream. A Ukrainian special forces communications official told the Associated Press he believed the car was there to stop any Ukrainian advance on the dam and to amplify a planned explosion originating in the machine room. ![]()
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