Video Shows Colossal Blast as Russian Missile Strikes Ukraine's Biggest Dam

Videos published on Friday appear to show a Russian missile dodging Ukraine's air defenses before striking Ukraine's largest hydroelectric dam near Zaporizhzhia.

Pro-Russian news outlets and milbloggers shared footage on Friday morning, as Kyiv struggled to grasp the scale of Russia's overnight assault on targets across Ukraine.

The Context

DniproHES, located to the south of the city of Dnipro, is the largest hydroelectric power station in Ukraine, and one of the largest in Europe.

Another vital facility on the Dnipro, the Kakhovka dam, was destroyed in July 2023, leading to widespread flooding and devastation. Ukraine and independent experts claimed at the time that Moscow was behind the attack.

What We Know

The dam was hit as Russia launched what has been described by Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko as one of the largest-scale attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector in the war.

Ukrhydroenergo, Ukraine's state hydropower company, confirmed on Friday that the DniproHES hydroelectric dam in Zaporizhzhia had been hit but insisted there was no risk of a breach.

Yurii Bielousov, chief of the war crimes department of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, said on national television that the hydroelectric power plant was struck eight times, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

"The moment of this morning's missile strike on the Dnipro hydroelectric power station," pro-Moscow news channel SHOT said on Telegram.

Oliver Carroll, foreign correspondent for The Economist, noted on X, formerly Twitter, that footage shows Moscow used "decoy flares" in the attack to counter Ukrainian air defenses.

Ukrhydroenergo director Igor Sirota said the DniproHES has been shut down because of the attack, describing the extent of the damage as "very large."

On national TV, Sirota said that the facility's two plants, HPP-1 and HPP-2, are not operating at the moment, Russia's state-run news agency Tass reported.

Views

"The enemy launched one of the largest attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector in recent weeks," said energy minister Galushchenko on Facebook. "The goal is not just to damage it, but, just like last year, to cause a large-scale disruption in the country's energy system.

"There are power outages in some regions. Energy companies are already working to restore electricity supply. Doing our best to return the light to people as soon as possible."

Maria Avdeeva, a security expert covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said on X that striking the DniproHES "is nothing less than using weapons of mass destruction, akin to nuclear weapons."

"Are we still merely allowed to watch this?" she added.

"So, Putin was targeting DniproHES - one of Europe's largest hydroelectric power plants and dams," Olexander Scherba, Ukraine's former ambassador to Austria, said on X. "When Stalin blew it up in 1941, the number of drowned was from 20 to 120 thousand (Stalin never really counted his victims)."

What's Next?

Sirota has said that Ukrhydroenergo will "assess the consequences within the day and take stock of what happened."

"We'll have to completely restore the machine room and electrical equipment," he told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to Ukraine's Western allies for more equipment to help the country defend itself against Russia.

"'Patriot' systems should be protecting Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia; we need air defense systems to protect people, infrastructure, homes, and dams," he said in a statement. "Our partners know exactly what's needed. They can certainly provide support. These decisions are necessary. Life must be protected from these Moscow barbarians."