Moscow: According to reports from Ukrainian and US intelligence agencies as well as seismic data from Norway, there is increasing proof that an explosion occurred at the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine around the time that it collapsed.
As evidence that a Russian "sabotage group" destroyed the Kakhovka hydroelectric station and dam early on Tuesday in the Kherson region, Ukraine's security service claimed it had intercepted a phone call.
The regional seismic station data, according to the Norwegian research foundation Norsar, clearly indicated explosion signals. An explosion at the dam was also discovered by US spy satellites, a US official was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
The facility, which had been in Russian hands since shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, was destroyed early on Tuesday, unleashing massive flooding that drove thousands of residents from their homes and caused environmental havoc.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) shared a one and a half minute audio clip of the alleged conversation on its Telegram channel. It showed two men speaking in Russian and appearing to be discussing the disaster's effects.
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Ukraine is charged by Russia with destroying the dam. In response to Reuters' request for comment regarding the SBU statement, the Russian foreign ministry did not respond right away.
The Ukrainians did not attack it. One of the men on the recording, identified by the SBU as a Russian soldier, said, "That was our sabotage group. They intended to frighten people with that dam, sort of.
"It didn't go as planned, and they did more than they had anticipated."
The man added that as a result, "thousands" of animals had died at a "safari park" downriver.
The soldier's claim that Russian forces had destroyed the dam surprised the other man on the queue.
The SBU provided no additional information regarding the conversation or its participants. It claimed to have started an investigation into war crimes and "ecocide."
The SBU said in a statement that the intercept "confirms that the Kakhovskaya HPP (Hydroelectric Power Plant) was blown up by a sabotage group of the occupiers." The invaders staged a man-made disaster in the south of our nation with the intention of extorting Ukraine by blowing up the dam.
According to a US official, satellites with infrared sensors saw a heat signature resembling that of a significant explosion. According to a statement from Norsar, seismic data from one station in Romania indicated activity at 2:54 a.m. local time on Tuesday, which indicated an explosion. This timing matches news reports of the dam collapse.
Along with the power plant, the dam assisted in supplying water for drinking, irrigation, and electricity to southern Ukraine, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
The reservoir's water levels were high prior to the explosion, according to the media.
Over the course of the week, hundreds of Ukrainians were rescued from rooftops in the flooded areas. Around 600 square kilometres, or 230 square miles, according to the governor of Kherson's southern region, were under water.
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Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the SBU, was quoted in the statement as saying, "By blowing up the Kakhovskaya HPP dam, the Russian Federation definitively proved that it is a threat to the entire civilised world."
"Our task is to bring to justice not only the leaders of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's regime, but also the ordinary perpetrators of crimes," he declared