Russia Blows Dam in Donetsk to 'Slow' Ukraine Advance: Kyiv

Kyiv authorities have accused Russia of destroying another dam in occupied territory in a bid to slow Ukrainian's nascent counteroffensive. This time the dam was in the eastern Donetsk Oblast, which has been a hotspot for fighting throughout nine years of war between the two neighbors.

A spokesperson for the Tavria Front Defence Forces—a Ukrainian military unit operating on the Donetsk front—told Ukrainska Pravda on Sunday that occupying Russian troops destroyed a dam on the Mokri Yaly River, causing significant flooding on both sides of the waterway.

"On the Mokri Yaly River, the occupiers blew up a dam, which led to flooding on both river banks," Valerii Shershen said. "However, this does not affect the offensive operations of the Tavria Front Defense Forces."

Shershen suggested a pattern of Russian forces using hydroelectric infrastructure as a weapon. "First, the occupiers blew up the Karlivka reservoir, then the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, then they blew up other hydroelectric facilities in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast."

"In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, they expected a breakthrough by the Defense Forces, so to slow down our advance, they resorted to this tactic when they blew up the hydroelectric facility on the Mokri Yaly River again. However, this has not affected the advance of the Defense Forces."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.

The reported destruction of the Mokri Yaly River dam comes shortly after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in occupied southern Ukraine, a major disaster that has caused severe flooding on both the Ukrainian- and Russian-occupied sides of the Dnieper River—called the Dnipro River in Ukrainian.

Kyiv has blamed Russia, which was in total control of the dam at the time of its destruction. Ukrainian officials said that occupying troops detonated explosives inside the structure to flood the front-line area and prevent any Ukrainian counteroffensive operations there.

Days before the dam was destroyed, Russian authorities adopted new legislation prohibiting any investigations into accidents at hydro-technical structures that occurred as a result of military operations, sabotage and terrorist activities.

Russia has denied responsibility, with officials suggesting that Ukrainian strikes on the dam were to blame for its collapse. An unnamed White House official told The New York Times last week that American spy satellites had detected an explosion at the dam just before its collapse, but added that U.S. agencies could not yet say categorically who was responsible.

The Ukrainian security service has published what it said was an intercepted phone call between two Russian soldiers shortly before the explosion. Kyiv said the phone call—in which two men discuss the dam's collapse and one assures the other that "our guys did it"—was further proof of Russian culpability.

A spokesperson for the state-owned Ukrainian Ukrhydroenergo firm—responsible for hydroelectric facilities on the Dnieper—told Newsweek that it could cost as much as $1 billion to replace the destroyed structures.

The Nova Kakhovka reservoir—which is used by both the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant cooling system and the North Crimean Canal—has rapidly depleted, the spokesperson said, although they noted that accurate measurements are "impossible" because of the destruction of dam equipment.

The most recent estimates, though, suggest the water level in the reservoir "is approximately 60 to 70 percent less than it was before the explosion," the spokesperson said.

Ukrainian forces launched their long-awaited counteroffensive last week, with military officials in Kyiv confirming that units had gone on the attack in multiple locations along the 80-mile front line.

The new operations were preceded by weeks of "shaping operations," with Ukrainian forces looking to destroy vital supply hubs and logistics infrastructure to degrade any Russian response to the coming push.

So far, much of the fresh fighting has been taking place in the southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast and the southeastern Donetsk Oblast. Ukrainian officials have reported significant advances in multiple areas—including around the devastated city of Bakhmut, which was the epicenter of the Russian winter offensive.

Russian military officials, meanwhile, have claimed to have inflicted significant casualties on advancing Ukrainian units, though Russian military bloggers have echoed Kyiv's reports of Ukrainian successes.

6/15/23 3:04 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comment from Ukrhydroenergo.