Ukraine's Kakhovka Dam Explosion Released 150 Tons of Oil Into River

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office said Tuesday that at least 150 tons of machine oil have been released into the Dnieper River following the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant's dam.

The Soviet-era dam in Nova Kakhovka, a city in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, was destroyed Tuesday morning. Video footage shows explosions occurring around the dam. Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson regional military administration, said that flooding had occurred in at least eight settlements and that evacuations were underway.

Ukraine said Russia was behind the explosions at the dam, while Russia blamed Kyiv.

Zelensky's office released a statement that said the president held an emergency meeting with his country's National Security and Defense Council, in which they were informed that at least 150 tons of machine oil had already been leaked into the Dnieper following the dam's explosion. The statement added that there is a risk of further leakage of more than 300 tons of oil.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry called the dam's destruction a "terrorist attack and war crime" perpetrated by Moscow. The ministry also charged that Putin's forces blew up the dam "in panic" as Ukraine continues to prepare for its anticipated counteroffensive in the war, which Russian President Vladimir Putin launched more than 15 months ago.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine sabotaged the dam to affect Crimea's water supplies and to divert attention away from what he called Zelensky's "faltering" counteroffensive. (Russian officials have said Ukraine has already begun the counteroffensive, which will reportedly try to reclaim land occupied by Putin's forces.)

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.

No civilian or military casualties have been reported as a result of the dam's explosion. Ukraine's Interior Ministry reported that 885 civilians had been evacuated as of 11 a.m. local time, and The Kyiv Independent said that "some of the settlements which face the biggest risk of flooding are under Russian occupation."

Zelensky's office said the dam's destruction has raised concerns about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Energoatom, Ukraine's state nuclear power company, said in a statement on Telegram that the dam incident "could have negative consequences" for the plant but that the situation is under control.

The environmental consequences of the oil leakage in the Dnieper are not yet known. But Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, has warned of the "possible loss of drinking water" for people in southern Kherson and Crimea, as well as "possibly the destruction of some of the settlements and of the biosphere."