Russia Blows Up Largest Hydro-Electric Dam in Europe, Endangering Thousands of Civilians Downstream of Dnipro River

Russia has bombed and damaged the Kakhovska hydroelectric power plant. The dam, on the Dnipro river, is the largest such installation in Europe.

President Zelenskyy will hold an emergency meeting of the National Security Council of Ukraine due to the explosion of the dam of Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, says Anton Gerashenko, a Ukrainian source connected to the government.

"Kakhovka HPP is the sixth (lower and last) stage of the cascade of Dnieper hydroelectric power plants, located five kilometers from the city of Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region," tweeted Garachenko. "Its destruction can lead to deaths of thousands of people.

"Head of Kherson regional military administration: water will reach a critical level in five hours. Evacuation of residents already started from dangerous area in the region."

"11 out of 28 spans were destroyed at Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, 80 settlements may fall into the flooding zone, - Russian media with reference to emergency services," tweeted Gerashenko.

From a local news service, Visegrad 24: "More than 80 small towns, hundreds of villages & large parts of Kherson city are forecasted to flood after Russia destroyed the Kakhovka dam this morning. The flooding disaster will unfold over the next 11 hours. Russia did it to hinder the Ukrainian counteroffensive."

On August 18, 1941, the Russians used 20 tons of explosives to blow up the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station dam, trying to hinder a German offensive.

The flooding killed between 20,000 and 100,000 Ukrainians.