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Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russian forces of blowing up a major dam in a part of southern Ukraine they control near Kherson. It has also called for the evacuation of civilians living in the area and warns of heavy flooding. President Volodymyr Zelensky has called an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on Telegram that the Kakhovka dam had been destroyed, and asked residents of 10 villages on the right bank of the river and parts of the city of Kherson to collect their essential documents and pets, turn off appliances and leave, while warning against possible misinformation.

Images of what appeared to be a surveillance camera overlooking the dam have circulated on social media, purportedly showing a flash, explosion and dam breaking.

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said in a video posted on Telegram shortly before 7am that "the Russian army has committed another act of terror" and warned that the water would reach "critical levels" in five hours.

Zelenskiy has called an emergency meeting of the country's Security and Defense Council following the dam explosion, Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov wrote on Twitter.


Zelenskiy already predicted in October the destruction of the dam

Ukraine and Russia have already accused each other of attacking the dam, and last October Zelenskiy predicted that Russia would destroy the dam to cause a flood.

Authorities, experts and residents have been expressing concern for months about water flows through and over the Kakhovka dam.

In February, the water level was so low that many feared a meltdown at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, whose cooling systems are supplied with water from the Kakhovka reservoir, held back by the dam.

In mid-May, following heavy rains and snowmelt, the water level rose above normal, flooding nearby villages. Satellite images showed water flowing over the damaged floodgates.

Ukraine controls five of the six dams on the Dnipro River, which runs from its northern border with Belarus to the Black Sea and is crucial for the country's supply of drinking water and electricity. The Kakhovka Dam, the lowest in the Kherson region, is controlled by Russian forces.

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