Name: Why Ukraine dam explosion matters
Uploaded: 2023-06-06T08:54:11.265Z
Duration: 1 min 28 s
Description: Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford explains the dam’s potential significance in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford explains the dam’s potential significance in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Nova Kakhovka

Russian forces have invaded Ukraine from land, air and sea with strikes causing widespread damage. Global leaders have condemned the move and imposed sanctions.

Ukraine Invasion

Why Ukraine dam explosion matters

Analysts have long pointed at it as being a potential target to be blown up by both sides in fact because the Ukrainians could well be interested in seeing this down blown up because it is so important in terms of supplying water and irrigation to Russian occupied Crimea and of course the Russians would see it as potentially being a weapon as a means of making it more difficult for Ukrainian forces to cross the Dnieper River into Russian occupied Crimea in any kind of ground offensive. The latest we are hearing certainly from the Ukrainian government we understand that President Zelensky is going to be holding an emergency meeting with the state, the National Security Council. We are also hearing from the Ukrainians that they believe that critical water levels will reach a critical point around five hours from now and we also know that there are ongoing evacuations from some of the settlements that are going to be affected. This is a large body of water and that is an understatement. This dam is three metres high, 3.2 kilometres long, supplies hydroelectric power to the whole region so it is of huge significance and of great concern obviously as you can imagine for the civilians still living in the area.

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Ukraine Invasion