The Russian armed forces targeted the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant in Vyshhorod, upstream from Ukraine’s capital city.
Unconfirmed footage depicts a fire on the road atop the dam. The extent of the structural damage is difficult to estimate. Another video shows a cruise missile striking the surface of the reservoir.
The 288-meter (945-feet) long dam holds a volume of up to 3.7 cubic kilometers (0.89 cubic miles) of water.
“If the dam were to collapse, a significant portion of Kyiv would be flooded,” former Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine Tymofiy Mylovanov commented on X.
The dam holds. If the dam were to collapse, a significant portion of Kyiv would be flooded, and the number of casualties could be in the hundreds of thousands, though it’s difficult to predict. pic.twitter.com/dlTO8SUFJm
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) August 26, 2024
The attack on the dam took place amid a larger Russian strike in which more than 200 missiles and drones had been launched, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Overnight, Russia attacked Ukrainian cities again. Hundreds of missiles and drones against civilian population in Ukraine,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov commented on X. “Ukraine is preparing its own answers. Weapons of our own, Ukrainian production.”
The Ukrainian authorities unveiled a new so-called long-range ‘drone missile’ called Palyanytsia on August 24, 2024. The weapon is designed domestically “to destroy the enemy’s offensive potential” by targeting air bases housing bombers used to attack Ukrainian cities.