He said the Ukrainians also tried to distract from setbacks that they'd faced on the battlefield. He said that it was preventing Crimea from access to fresh water. This is the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine back in 2014 that's located to the south of the dam. He said Kyiv had carried out a sabotage attack on the dam with the goal of starving Crimea. MAYNES: Well, we heard from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said in no uncertain terms just the opposite. What has the response been from Russian authorities? And just for context, this dam, the Kakhovka Dam, spans the big, wide Dnipro River that effectively is the frontline in southern Ukraine, with the Ukrainians on the west side and the Russians on the east side.

Ukrainian officials are now saying as of Tuesday evening, there's no confirmed deaths on the side of the river that they control, the west side. MYRE: But I have to say that was early in the day on Tuesday. And now they are - they write, if they don't survive, they're already saying goodbye to me. OKSANA: (Through interpreter) A family just wrote to me. Here's a woman, Oksana, who was in tears when we spoke to her by phone in the southern city of Kherson. Now, initially, the Ukrainians really feared mass casualties. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling the Russians terrorists. What exactly happened, and how are Ukrainian officials reacting? Good to have you both here.ĬHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Good to be with you. Two of our correspondents covering this story are NPR's Greg Myre in Kyiv and Charles Maynes in Moscow. People are evacuating ahead of the floodwaters. Russia and Ukraine are trading accusations about who blew it up.

In Ukraine, millions of tons of water are pouring through what used to be a major dam and hydroelectric power station.

Jeff goldblum shush