On Sunday, Ukraine appeared to launch a long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces, and its officials said Moscow blew up the dam to impede their advance by causing flooding and destroying the only remaining river crossing between the enemies. However, it is unclear whether Ukraine’s plans include a major crossing of the lower Dnipro River.
Ukrainians questioned why they wanted to destroy their own infrastructure, cities and farms, while pointing out that these were frequent targets of brutal Russian warfare. Moscow wants to “show that it is ready for anything” if Kiev aggressively continues its counteroffensive, said Roman Kostenko, chairman of the defense and intelligence committee in the Ukrainian parliament. “They are doing everything to stop our counterattack.”
Mr. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, claimed that Ukraine destroyed the dam to cut off the flow of water through a canal from the Dnipro to the Crimean peninsula. After Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, Ukraine halted the flow, but Russia resumed it last year after capturing the dam.
Other Russian officials claimed the attack was intended to support a Ukrainian offensive they say has stalled — possibly to allow Kiev to reposition some forces or to prevent flooding from pushing back Russian artillery near the river .
Some western military analysts warned against being quick to assign blame or even say whether the dam collapse was intentional.
“It’s too early to tell,” said Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies at CNA, a research institute in Arlington, Virginia. The disaster, he said, “ultimately benefits no one.”
Reporting was contributed by Riley Mellen, Haley Willis, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Paul Sun, Andrew E Kramer, Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Eric Schmitt And Victoria Kim.
