Dramatic video captured the chilling moment a Russian bomb severely damaged a major dam in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
The explosion blew a hole in the Ternivsky dam, causing water to pour out of the Kurakhove reservoir and flood nearby settlements.
As of November 12, some 15 million cubic metres of water had spilled from the reservoir, which was originally built to cool the nearby Thermal Power Plant.
Roman Padun, the head of the Kurakhove City Military Administration, said shelling in the area made it impossible to inspect the damage.
“We know that water is flowing through villages located near the Ternivska dam,” he told the Ukrainian media outlet Suspline.
“We cannot confirm the nature of the damage or its criticality. We cannot inspect the dam due to constant shelling at present.”
Images shot by Yulia Kiriyenko show the devastating moment the dam is hit by the Russian bomb.
At the moment of impact, giant flames erupt from the dam, as thick black smoke billows skywards.
Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Donetsk region’s Military Administration, warned that the flood waters could “potentially threaten residents of settlements along the Vovcha River in both Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.”
Bombing dams is considered a war crime under international law, specifically under the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.
Article 56 of Protocol I explicitly prohibits attacks on dams, dikes, and nuclear power stations if such attacks cause the release of dangerous forces (such as floodwaters or radiation) and result in severe civilian losses.
The city of Kurakhove is a key target for Putin’s army, as it seeks to seize control of the entire Donetsk region.
Surrounded on three sides, Russian forces are just under three kilometres from the devastated city centre.
The city is under constant bombardment from bombs, drones and rockets, which have destroyed hospitals and schools, along with other civilian infrastructure.
Last Friday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the situation in Kurakhove, as well as the key city of Pokrovsk, “the most challenging.”
Local authorities remain in the city, as well as representatives of the police and local Territorial Defence Forces.
