A big dam disaster Russian authorities urge evacuation after Ukrainian strike on Belgorod dam sparks flood risk
A dam near the Russian city of Belgorod is leaking water after it was damaged by a Ukrainian strike over the weekend, according to local authorities.
On Saturday, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported on Telegram that the Belgorod Reservoir dam had been hit by a Ukrainian drone. He urged local residents to evacuate, warning that settlements in the area could be at risk of flooding if the dam burst.
“We understand that the enemy might try to strike again and destroy the dam,” Gladkov wrote on Telegram. “If that happens, there will be a risk of flooding in the river floodplain on the side of [Ukraine’s] Kharkiv region, as well as several streets in settlements that are home to around 1,000 people.” He added that temporary shelters in Belgorod proper would be available to residents.
The Telegram news channel MNS published photos showing the aftermath of the strike late on Friday night. The channel alleged that the dam’s hydraulic structure had been hit by three HIMARS missiles. It added that two people had been injured but that there was no threat of the dam breaking. According to the head of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, however, the strike came from a drone, not a HIMARS missile.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian military reported that the dam had begun to release water and that the reservoir’s water level had already dropped by one meter. “There are already reports of Russian trenches being flooded,” read a report by Ukraine’s 16th Army Corps.
Enemy logistics have become much more complicated. […] The units that managed to cross the Siverskyi Donets have effectively been cut off from their main forces. So we’re expecting new additions to the [prisoner of war] exchange pool.
On Monday, Russia’s Federal Water Resources Agency confirmed that water in the Belgorod Reservoir had dropped by one meter and said a state of emergency was in effect at the facility while repair work was underway.
As a result of the strikes […] the bottom water outlet, which regulates sanitary water releases downstream, was damaged, and both segment gates lost their seal. Due to this damage, the reservoir’s water level has dropped by one meter.
Sources from Russian security forces told state media that Ukraine’s strike on the dam was an “attempt to create a man-made disaster.”
On Monday, the BBC reported that it had independently verified social media footage showing damage to the dam. It added that satellite imagery indicated flooding downstream from the breaching.
