By Reuters, Australian Associated Press, DPA and published by The Canberra Times
UKRAINE’S Russian-held Nova Kakhovka dam has been damaged in shelling by Ukrainian forces, Russian news agencies report, citing emergency services.
Russian state-owned news agency TASS quoted a representative of the emergency services as saying that a rocket launched by a US-made HIMARS missile system had hit the dam’s lock and caused damage.
The official quoted said it was an “attempt to create the conditions for a humanitarian catastrophe” by breaching the dam.
The reports provided no evidence to support the allegation, which could not be immediately verified by Reuters.
The vast Nova Kakhovka dam, which blocks the Dnipro river upstream of Kherson where Ukrainian forces have been making advances, has taken on vital strategic significance in recent weeks.
Both Russia and Ukraine have since October repeatedly accused each of planning to breach the dam using explosives, in a move that would flood much of the area downstream in what would likely cause major destruction around Kherson city.
Meanwhile, authorities in southern Ukrainian cities said on Sunday that they had come under overnight artillery and rocket fire from Russian forces.
A building housing civilian infrastructure in the city of Zaporizhzhia was destroyed, a city official said without providing further details.
One person was killed in the attack and buildings in the vicinity were damaged.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the city of Nikopol was hit by artillery and rocket fire, and the towns of Myrove and Maharnets on the north bank of the Dnipro River were also struck.
Russian forces have occupied the south bank, from where they are able to shell locations on the other bank held by Ukrainian forces, making use of the protection afforded by the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on the south bank of the river.
Speaking on Saturday evening, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Ukrainian capital was facing possible blackouts and cuts to its water supply and heating network caused by Russian strikes on the power grid.
Residents of the capital should conserve supplies and consider moving out temporarily.
He described this as a worst-case scenario.
“We are doing all we can to ensure that things do not come to this,” he said.
“But we want to be open. Our enemies are doing all they can to leave this city without heating, without electricity and without water supply – in short so that we all die,” the mayor said.
He put the number of residents in the city at about three million, including 350,000 internally displaced persons.
Kyiv is attempting to stabilise its power grid by phased blackouts that leave parts of the city in darkness for a number of hours and is setting up 1000 communal warm facilities in case the district heating network goes down.
Klitschko, famous as a former heavyweight world boxing champion, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of aiming to destroy Ukraine.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Satellite image shows the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River on October 18, 2022. File photo: Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters and published by US News & World Report
First insert: Ukrainian soldiers fire a round on the frontline from a T80 tank that was captured from Russians during a battle in Trostyanets in March, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in the eastern Donbas region of Bakhmut, Ukraine, on November 4, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne and published by CNA
Second insert: Ukrainian soldiers prepare to fire a round from a 2C23 Nona-SVK self-propelled mortar system on the frontline, from the tank that was captured from Russian soldiers at a battle in Husarivka in March, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in the eastern Donbas region of Bakhmut, Ukraine, on November 4, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne and published by CNA
Front Page: Media reports say a Ukrainian rocket has hit the Nova Kakhovka dam’s lock and caused damage. Photo: AP and published by The Canberra Times
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