Video of water release from Nova Kakhovka dam unrelated to June breach
The clip of floodwaters released from the Nova Kakhovka dam is from April
(Reuters) - Video of water being released at the intact Nova Kakhovka dam in Kherson, Ukraine, in April 2023 does not show a release of water following the June 6 breach of the dam, as claimed in social media posts.
The footage is circulating online alongside the claim that Ukraine has opened the dam’s floodgates and released large amounts of water, thereby contributing to the flooding in the region already caused by the partial destruction of the structure on June 6 (here).
One tweet sharing the video (here) reads in part: “I don't know who's responsible for destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, but if you do what you can to worsen the situation and destroy the remnants of the dam, you're the prime suspect, not the victim.”
The tweet was also shared on Facebook (here) and TikTok (here).
The clip, however, dates to April this year when several parts of Ukraine experienced flooding (here).
Suspilne, a public broadcasting network in Ukraine, shared the video as part of a news segment uploaded to YouTube on Apr. 24, 2023 (here). The description of the video, translated from Ukrainian, reads in part: “In Zaporizhzhia, due to the rise in the water level in the Dnieper, the coast and part of the beach areas were flooded.”
Some parts of the intact dam’s structure seen in the video shared online are also visible in a Google Street View of the dam from the roadway running alongside it dated July 2015 (bit.ly/3NqoPUI).
The circulating clip was also posted to Instagram in April by the Kyiv subsidiary of media outlet “Insider” (here).
The video appears to have first emerged online on the Telegram channel “This is Zaporozhye UA News” (t.me/eto_zp) on Apr. 18 (t.me/eto_zp/36514).
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The clip of floodwaters released from the Nova Kakhovka dam is from April and is not proof that Ukraine has been releasing water from the dam in Kherson even after its recent collapse.
