RT reported that the Kakhovskaya hydropower dam - located on the upper reaches of the Dnepr River from Kherson city - suffered significant damage, according to a local official and some videos shared on social media.
Vladimir Leontyev, the Mayor of Novaya Kakhovka, confirmed to RIA Novosti that the upper part of the important hydroelectric dam was destroyed by an attack.
The dam was reported damaged at around 3am, local time. A video taken from a drone circulating on Telegram shows the consequences of the dam break.
Russia has repeatedly blamed Ukraine for carrying out repeated attacks on the Kakhovskaya dam, warning that the attack could cause disaster and lead to the deaths of thousands of civilians.
In response, Ukraine accused Russia of planning to blow up the dam to blame Kiev for flooding.
The persistent threat was one of the reasons why civilians fled some communities in the region and eventually Russian forces withdrew from Kherson city to the left bank of the Dnepr river.
Russian military and civilian officials, including Acting Governor of Kherson Vladimir Saldo, warned at the time that many areas in the region, including the city of Kherson, could be flooded if the Kakhovskaya dam was destroyed.
Kherson was officially declared a part of Russia in early October, along with Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Lugansk, after residents in these territories voted in favor of the merger in referends.
Ukraine and some Western countries have viewed the votes as "fake" and said they will reclaim the territories by all necessary means.
In an interview with the Washington Post last December, former leader of Ukraine's Southern Military Command, Major General Andrey Kovalchuk, admitted that Kiev had seriously considered blowing up a dam to paralyze Moscow's forces defending the city of Kherson, and even considered " conducting a test attack using a HIMARS missile launcher into one of the floodgates".
