Mark Ellis

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of blowing up a major dam in the Kherson region in The South of the country. The Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of shelling it.

Thousands of people Living Downstream from the Kakhovka dam have been affected after water burst through, with Drinking Water supplies threatened and Agricultural Land deluged.

There are also concerns for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power plant (which is in Russian hands), upstream from The Dam , which relies on the Kakhovka reservoir for water to keep it cooled.

In the Soviet era, engineers built a series of six dams along the Ukrainian part of the Dnipro river, which stretches from its border with Belarus 680 miles (1,095km) south to The Sea .

The Kakhovka dam is The Last one in The Chain .

In Between the dams, they turned The River into a series of huge reservoirs to provide water for households and industry, and to irrigate farmland.

Each of the dams along the Dnipro contains a hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP).

There are HPP dams on other rivers, and smaller dams at the entrances to reservoirs elsewhere in the country.

Before The Russian invasion, up to 10% of Ukraine's energy needs came from hydroelectric power.

Ukraine has accused Russia of A Number of attacks on dams and power plants after The Invasion by Russian forces in February 2022.

Some experts believe targeting dams could be part of a broader attempt to weaken Ukraine's critical infrastructure, as The War drags on.

" This is part of Russia's strategy of destroying Ukraine's energy capacity, " says Dr Marina Miron, researcher in defence studies at Kings College London.

" Its hydroelectric power plants used to generate just over 6,000 megawatts of power. Following the attacks on the hydroelectric plants, some 2,500 megawatts of capacity have gone. "

There's a historical precedent for incidents involving dams in Ukraine, dating back to World War Two.

In August 1941, the Soviet Army was retreating rapidly as the German Army advanced eastwards.

Soviet commanders decided to destroy the bridges and dam at Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine to prevent German forces from crossing the Dnipro river and slow their advance.

Civilians were not warned, and historians estimate at least 3,000 people died as a result.

The explicitly ban war-time attacks on " installations containing dangerous forces" such as dams.

They are civilian infrastructure and generally not valid military targets, says Professor Tracey German at Kings College, London.

" In The Law of armed conflict, let's say there was a Ukrainian military unit based around a dam. Then, Russia could treat it as a military target. But As Far as I Am aware, that has not been the case. "

" An attack on a civilian target like a dam has to be done out of military necessity, " says Dr Mark Ellis , Executive Director of The International Bar Association .

" But if the military advantage gained is small, and the damage done to civilians is catastrophic, then that would be a violation of International Law . "

Source of news: bbc.com