Kyiv hydroelectric dam hit during massive Russian attack across Ukraine, aide says
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A dam in Kyiv, part of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant, was struck during a massive Russian attack across Ukraine on Aug. 26, Timofiy Mylovanov, an advisor at the President's Office, said.
Russia used at least 100 missiles and 100 drones in a wide-scale attack across the country, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. At least four people have been killed and eight were injured as of the time of this publication.
Mylovanov said that while the dam "holds," the plant was damaged in the attack.
"If the dam were to collapse, a significant portion of Kyiv would be flooded," Mylovanov said.
At the same time, there is conflicting information about the strike on the plant and the resulting damage.
Forbes Ukraine wrote, citing an energy official who remained anonymous because he was not authorized to speak about the attack, that the plant had been targeted.
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of an anti-disinformation department at the National Security and Defense Council, then said that there was "no threat" to the dam and that "it is impossible to destroy it with missiles."
Russians are using perceived threats to the dam's structural integrity to "incite panic," Kovalenko added.
The Russian morning attack struck the Kyiv hydro dam. While the dam holds, the hydro power plant appears to be damaged. If the dam were to collapse, a significant portion of Kyiv would be floodedpic.twitter.com/tGRVP62LhD
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) August 26, 2024
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed in July that Kyiv was allegedly preparing to destroy the dams of the Kyiv hydroelectric power plant and the Kaniv reservoir.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry denied Zakharova's accusations, calling them "absurd."
"There can be no realistic purpose or motive for Ukraine to destroy its own infrastructure or endanger its own people," the ministry said at the time.
Zakharova's statement came slightly over a year since Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and the adjacent dam in Kherson Oblast, causing a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine.
