By: Yiling Sun

The Kakhovka D was a dam built in Ukraine to stand against any attack from the outside. Engineers’ evidence suggests that Russia blew it up from the inside in a small passage that runs through the bottom of the dam.

It is probably that a bomb blew up in the small path. At 2:35 am and 2:54 am on June 6. Just before the dam fell, satellites captured infrared heat signals showing an explosion. People near the dam heard exploding sounds between 2 and 3 am.

“Many people drowned, because they couldn’t leave their houses or climb to the roofs,” one of the witnesses said.

Ukraine and Russia are blaming each other for the explosion. In trying to solve the problem, engineers searched for evidence. The evidence suggests that Russia blew up the dam. The blast resulted in heavy flooding and damage to nearby cities in Ukraine, leading to 2,500 people evacuating.

Because of the war between Ukraine and Russia, the dam was destroyed lightly in some parts before the explosion. Ukrainians damaged one part of the roadway of the dam, but Russian troops blew up another section afterward. Satellites showed pictures of water flowing uncontrollably over some gates. All this information suggests that the dam wasn’t exploded and that it had fallen because of the war. Russia took this opportunity to decline the fact that they were the cause of the destruction.

Despite this, Michael W. West, a geotechnical engineer and expert in dam safety and failure analysis, still thinks Russia blew up the dam.

“If your objective is to destroy the dam itself, a large explosion would be required,” West said. “The gallery is an ideal place to put that explosive charge.”

When the dam was destroyed, the streets nearby flooded. Vasyl, a Russian citizen, lived 60 miles away from the dam in Hola Prystan.

“We live on the fourth floor, so it didn’t reach our apartment, but the first floor was completely flooded,” Vasyl said. “My sister’s house is completely washed out. It’s just the walls now, nothing inside, no furniture, no appliances.”

The dam was damaged a lot by the explosion as well. Gregory B. Baecher, an engineering professor at the University of Maryland, said that the concrete barrier had failed to withstand the explosion, suggesting that the bomb was placed deep inside the dam.

“If they put explosives in the gallery, that would explain a lot,” Professor Baecher said. “A large explosion in there would just rip up all the concrete structure.”

Many Russians were proud of this structure, and nobody thought it would be destroyed. No one knows why except for the person or the group of people who placed the bomb. While officials are still searching for answers, some evidence suggests that except t Russia probably blew up the Kakhovka dam.