Russia re-deploys combat-ready marines and airborne troops, implying they blew up Khakhovka dam to gain military advantage, Ukrainian defense minister says

• The Khakhovka dam in southern Ukraine was mysteriously damaged, triggering intense flooding, this week.
• A Ukrainian official claims Russia blew it up to prevent a counteroffensive in the south.

A Ukrainian official has claimed that Russia blew up the Khakhovka dam so that it could prevent a counteroffensive in the south.

Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram on Sunday that Russia is now moving its most combat-ready units, including marines, airborne troops, and the 49th army, away from Kherson.

She claimed that this backs up the theory that Russian forces sabotaged the dam in order to narrow the possible areas that Ukraine's army could take action.

This would allow them to make better use of their own limited reserves and redeploy their forces to the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut areas, where fighting has been escalating, she said.

The destruction of the dam caused the area around Kherson to flood and triggered what the United Nations has described as a "humanitarian catastrophe."

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of destroying the dam. Both have denied it.

The Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and dam have been under Russian control since soon after its forces began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Growing evidence suggests that the damage to the dam was caused by an explosion, according to intelligence reports from the US and Ukraine, as well as seismic data from Norway, Reuters reported on Friday.

Ukraine's security service said on Friday that it had intercepted a phone call from a Russian soldier in which he admits that a Russian "sabotage group" was behind the explosion.