WATCH: Massive Soviet-era dam in southern Ukraine is blown, unleashing flood of water

According to both Ukrainian and Russian forces, a massive Soviet-era dam in the Russian-controlled section of southern Ukraine blew on Tuesday, sending a flow of water over the combat zone. Both parties accused the other for the dam’s destruction. Unverified social media footage revealed a succession of strong explosions near the Kakhovka dam. Other footage showed water flowing through the dam’s ruins, with passersby reacting in horror, occasionally using violent language.

The dam, 30 metres (yards) tall and 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) long, was erected in 1956 as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on the Dnipro River.

A multi-hundred foot chunk of the Nova Kakhovka dam is gone, the Kakhovka Reservoir is quickly emptying out into the Dnipro. pic.twitter.com/265i1nbvAO

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 6, 2023

It holds an 18 km3 reservoir which also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control. Ukraine’s military said that Russian forces blew up the dam. “The Kakhovka (dam) was blown up by the Russian occupying forces,” the South command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Tuesday on its Facebook page. “The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified.” Russian news agencies said the dam, controlled by Russian forces, had been destroyed in shelling while a Russian-installed official said it was a terrorist attack - Russian shorthand for an attack by Ukraine. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the battlefield accounts from either side. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.