The New York Times, citing an official from the Biden administration, writes that US satellites recorded an explosion at the Kakhovskaya HPP before its destruction.
According to him, immediately before the collapse of the dam, satellites equipped with infrared sensors detected signs of heat corresponding to a strong explosion.
U.S. intelligence analysts suspect Russia was behind the damʼs destruction, a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity.
But he added that the US intelligence services still do not have any convincing evidence to unequivocally identify the person responsible for the destruction of the dam.
- On the night of June 6, Russia blew up the Kakhovka HPP in the Kherson region. Due to the breach of the dam, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is under threat, it is also possible to deprive people of drinking water in the south of the Kherson region and in the Crimea, and to destroy part of the settlements and the biosphere. According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Russians deliberately blew up the dam, but they did it chaotically, which caused their military equipment to sink.
- On the right bank of the Dnipro, 16,000 people were in the critical flooding zone, evacuation was announced in the region. The situation is worse on the occupied left bank.
- Reconstruction of Kakhovka HPP will cost up to one billion dollars and will last five years. The UN and the European Union will provide humanitarian assistance to victims of the destruction of the dam. The White House said that it would not leave it at that and will help Ukraine, and Ukraine will also receive help from the NATO Disaster Response Center.
- On June 8, the United Nations announced that it would form groups in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson that would go to the occupied territories. The UN is waiting for security guarantees from Russia. Ukraine provided them for its part.