Russian installed Kherson governor blames dam blast on Ukraine

The Russianinstalled governor of Kherson has said that Kyiv had struck the Kakhovka dam to deflect attention from what he said were the failures of Ukraine s counteroffensive. Explosions destroyed a vast Sovietera dam in Russiancontrolled southern Ukraine overnight, unleashing a wall of water amid signs that Kyivs summer counteroffensive was under way. Russian and Ukrainian forces blamed each other for blowing up the Kakhovka dam, threatening people living on either side of the Dnipro River. Zelensky called an emergency national security council meeting to be held in Kyiv after news of the dams destruction. Andriy Yermek, Zelenskys chief of staff, condemned the attack as ecocide. Russian news agencies claimed the dam had been destroyed in shelling while a Russianinstalled official said it was a terrorist attack, pointing the finger at Kyiv. Read the best of our journalism: Subscribe to The Times and The Sunday Times YouTube channel: Find us on Facebook: Find us on Twitter: Find us on Instagram: