What happened when the Nova Kakhovka dam was destroyed
A look back at the breach of the dam in occupied Kherson Oblast, and at fighting reported the day before in Russia's Belgorod region.
What happened on 6 June 2023 on the lower Dnieper, also called the Dnipro? The Nova Kakhovka dam, in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson Oblast, was destroyed, sending a huge volume of water downstream. The dam had held back 18 cubic kilometres of water in the Kakhovka reservoir.
A breach in the early hours
The dam was breached in the early hours of 6 June 2023, causing extensive flooding along the lower Dnieper in Kherson Oblast. It was under the control of the Russian military, which had seized it in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Blame and denial
The question of responsibility followed quickly. Many experts later concluded that Russian forces likely blew up a segment of the dam to hinder the planned Ukrainian counter-offensive. Ukraine specifically blamed Russia's 205th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. Russian authorities denied the accusations.
Fighting across the border
The previous day, 5 June 2023, brought separate reports from Russia's Belgorod region. The Russian Volunteer Corps claimed to have captured the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka. The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said about 100 civilians were still trapped in the village and could not be evacuated because of continued shelling.
That fighting was part of a series of incursions that began on 22 May 2023, when armed groups from Ukraine carried out a cross-border raid into Belgorod Oblast. Two Russian rebel groups allied with and based in Ukraine, the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, claimed to have taken control of several border settlements and clashed with Russian government forces. Russian authorities said a Ukrainian sabotage group had carried out the attacks and imposed counter-terrorism measures in the region.
Taken together, the two stories showed a front line that stretched from the flooded lower Dnieper to the Russian border region of Belgorod in the first week of June 2023.
