- Flooding from the Kakhovka dam destruction is harming Russia's defensive positions, experts said.
- The waters wiped out Russian fortifications and minefields, the Institute for the Study of War said.
The devastating flooding from the dam that Russia is accused of blowing up is also wiping out Russia's own defensive positions in Ukraine, experts said in a new assessment.
The DC-based Institute for the Study of War said in an update on Wednesday that "The flooding has destroyed many Russian first line field fortifications that the Russian military intended to use to defend against Ukrainian attacks."
The flood waters surged down the Dnipro river, which is also a boundary between Russian-held and Ukrainian-held parts of the country.
Russia occupies the east bank of the Dnipro river, while Ukraine retook the west bank — including the city of Kherson — last year. Ukraine said that most of the flooding from the dam's destruction is on the Russia-controlled side.
Per the ISW: "Rapid flooding has likely forced Russian personnel and military equipment" to withdraw from key locations.
It named Oleshky and Hola Prystan, settlements on the east bank of the river from which the ISW said Russia had earlier been firing its artillery at Ukraine.
It said that near-infrared imagery taken on Wednesday showed the flooding is "heavily disrupting Russian prepared defensive positions" in those settlements.
"The flood also destroyed Russian minefields along the coast, with footage showing mines exploding in the flood water," the ISW added.
It also said that it was unclear how much heavy equipment Russia lost to the start of the flooding.
The Kakhovka dam, which is upstream from Kherson, was damaged on Tuesday, releasing a torrent of water from its reservoir.
Ukraine has blamed Russia for the dam's destruction. Western countries have condemned Russia in broad terms since its destruction but haven't explicitly said it deliberately destroyed the dam.
NBC News, citing three unnamed officials, reported that the US government has intelligence suggesting Russia is indeed to blame.
Russia has said Ukraine destroyed the dam by shelling it — though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy countered by saying the dam was too strong to be broken by artillery alone.
Ukraine said more than 40,000 people have been affected by the floods, and warned of an ecological disaster.
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Ukrainian rescuers had been shot at when trying to help people in Russia-controlled areas.
"It's very hard to get people out of the occupied part of Kherson region. When our forces try to get them out, they are shot at by occupiers from a distance," he told Politico.
The first reports of deaths have emerged, though the toll is expected to rise as rescuers search and waters recede.