Ukraine strikes dam in Kherson using US HIMARS missiles: Russian media

The Ukrainian military has fired US-made missiles at the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in the southern region of Kherson, causing damage to the strategic facility in the Moscow-controlled area.

Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency said Ukrainian forces had fired six US-made HIMARS missiles at the crucial dam on Sunday, adding that five of them were intercepted by the Russian air defenses but one made it through and hit a floodgate.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine aren’t giving up on their attempts to destroy the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station and create the circumstances for a humanitarian disaster,” RIA Novosti said, citing local emergency services.

"Today at 10:00 (0800 GMT), there was a hit of six HIMARS rockets. Air defense units shot down five missiles; one hit a lock of the Kakhovka dam, which was damaged.”

RIA also quoted a local Moscow-backed official as saying the damage was not "critical."

"Everything is under control. The main air defense strikes were repelled, one missile hit the dam, but did not cause critical damage," Ruslan Agayev, a representative of the Moscow-installed administration of the nearby city of Novaya Kakhovka, told the agency.

Moreover, Russian state-owned news agency TASS quoted a representative of the emergency services as saying that a rocket launched by a US-made HIMARS missile system had hit the dam's lock and caused damage. The official said it was an "attempt to create the conditions for a humanitarian catastrophe" by breaching the dam.

Russia prevents Ukrainian ‘terrorist attack’ on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant: Russian official

Russian special services have thwarted a “terrorist attack” by Ukraine on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, a senior Russian official says.

The Ukrainian military had over the past weeks claimed Russian forces intended to blow up the strategic facility to cause devastating flooding.

The vast Kakhovka dam was captured by Russian forces at the start of their offensive in the ex-Soviet republic in February. The key facility, which blocks the Dnipro River upstream of Kherson where Ukrainian forces have been making advances, has taken on vital strategic significance in recent weeks.

Since October, both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of planning to breach the dam using explosives, in a move that would flood much of the area downstream in what would likely cause major destruction around Kherson city.

The dam, which was constructed in 1956 on the Dnipro river as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, supplies water to Russia's Crimean Peninsula and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is under Russian control.

Russia launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the 2014 Minsk agreements and Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Since the onset of operations, the US and its European allies have imposed waves of sanctions on the Kremlin and sent numerous batches of advanced weapons to Ukraine. Moscow has been critical of the weapons supplies to Kiev, warning that they will prolong the war.

“No electricity, water in Kherson after Kiev strike”

A few hours later, local authorities in Kherson said the city was cut off from electricity and water supplies after a Kiev’s strike on nearby power lines.

"In Kherson and a number of other areas in the region, there is temporarily no electricity or water supply," the city's administration said on Telegram.

It said it was a "result of an attack organized by the Ukrainian side on the Berislav-Kakhovka highway that saw three concrete poles of high-voltage power lines damaged."

The authorities said energy specialists were working to "quickly" resolve the issue, calling on people to remain calm.

Russian state-owned news agency TASS cited emergency services in the region as saying that ten settlements, including Kherson city, had been left without electricity.

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