Russian-installed Kherson governor blames dam blast on Ukraine

The Russian-installed governor of Kherson has said that Kyiv had struck the Kakhovka dam to deflect attention from what he said were the failures of Ukraine’s counter-offensive. Explosions destroyed a vast Soviet-era dam in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine overnight, unleashing a wall of water amid signs that Kyiv’s summer counter-offensive was under way. Russian and Ukrainian forces blamed each other for blowing up the Kakhovka dam, threatening people living on either side of the Dnipro River. Zelensky called an emergency national security council meeting to be held in Kyiv after news of the dam’s destruction. Andriy Yermek, Zelensky’s chief of staff, condemned the attack as “ecocide”. Russian news agencies claimed the dam had been destroyed in shelling while a Russian-installed official said it was a “terrorist attack”, pointing the finger at Kyiv. Read the best of our journalism: Subscribe to The Times and The Sunday Times YouTube channel: Find us on Facebook: Find us on Twitter: Find us on Instagram: