Dam Destroyed In The Dead Of Night Upstages Ukraine's Counteroffensive
NDTV
Ukraine accused Russia, which occupies the dam, of blowing it up, while Moscow said shelling by Kyiv's troops was the cause.
The 24 hours before Tuesday's flooding of the Dnipro River basin were already dramatic, as Ukraine appeared on the cusp of a counteroffensive that many in Kyiv see as their best chance to defeat Russia's invasion.
US President Joe Biden, just hours earlier, gave a fingers-crossed sign in response to a question on the Ukrainian campaign's chances.
Russia, meanwhile, claimed without evidence it fended off a large armored attack in the country's eastern Donbas region. But the Kremlin had to dismiss as fake a putative address to the nation by President Vladimir Putin, in which he allegedly called on Russians to rally against invasion by Ukraine in the wake of strikes across the border in recent days.
Nothing, however, compared to what appeared to be an horrific escalation of the war early on Tuesday, as up to 18 million cubic meters of water poured through a massive breach in the Kakhovka dam, swamping communities along the banks of the Dnipro river.
