The key
government is now doubling down
on accusing Russia
of destroying a vital dam
and unleashing a flooding disaster.
This is, we're told, the U.S.
is making its own assessment
of who's to blame
and leaning
leaning toward the conclusion
that Moscow was, in fact,
behind the collapse.
CNN's Sam
Kiley has a full report from Ukraine.
A new phase in Russia's war on Ukraine.
A dam under Moscow's control burst.
Soon, vast areas
downstream were flooded,
including parts of Carson City,
Ukraine and its allies
blamed Russia for the breach.
But that may have backfired.
Some
he escaped.
But according to a Ukrainian officer
who commands a team in the area,
many Russian troops who hold the east
bank of the Donetsk row did not.
Their positions were now fully destroyed.
They're full of those waters.
They have a lot of long people
and got people for now.
We saw the Balkans
just run in
and they try to evacuate themselves.
They left.
Now, not all the positions are left,
although their weapons
equipment, ammunitions
and vehicles, including armored
vehicles, too.
But if this is to Ukraine's advantage,
can you be sure that Ukraine didn't
destroy the dam?
No, Ukraine didn't destroy the camp cause
first the government controls the food.
That's a problem for us, too.
And the main problem is the civilians
because a lot of them in the recreational
All Ukrainian drone
footage of the area
has been held back by the government
amid a campaign of secrecy
surrounding its planned counteroffensive.
Satellite imagery shows
that the dam suffered structural failure
at the end of May
as the lake waters above it broke through
It has been under Russian control
since March last year.
Well, Nabila,
it was mined
there was mined by the Russian occupiers.
And they blew it up.
Russia says Ukraine did it to offset
battlefield losses in the east.
But again, Ukraine civilians suffer.
80 settlements
and tens of thousands of people
face flooding.
Clean water
and power systems have been destroyed in.
Again, it's a short before he even.
Everything is going to die here.
Living creatures,
all the birds, everything will die
and people will be drowned.
Ukraine evacuated civilians and trains
as the waters rose
and they now face
an ecological and humanitarian disaster.
But one that may offer
a military advantage
Now, Wolf, the Ukrainian military said
that they anticipated
a disaster of this nature
and that it wouldn't affect their plans
for the counter-offensive.
And similarly,
the civilian administrations
in towns
that would normally get their water from
this reservoir
have also made plans to do without it
and in many cases
are managing to cope
remarkably well Wolf.
Sam Kiley, thank you very much.
Stay safe over there.
I want to bring back right now
Democratic Congressman Jason Carroll.
He's a key
member of both the intelligence
and foreign affairs Committee.
So, Congressman,
do the science
based on everything you know,
indicate that Russia did, in fact,
attack this dam?
Well, this is an awful tragedy.
Wolf, and the people of Ukraine continue
to suffer really unimaginable suffering.
And yeah,
looking at this,
I haven't been briefed on any of this,
but this certainly fits
the pattern of practice
of Russian brutality.
Right.
They they have raped women and children.
They have engaged in mass executions.
They have kidnaped
thousands of Ukrainian children
and sent them to the camps in Russia.
And they have targeted over
and over again civilian infrastructure.
So this is right out of Vladimir
Putin's playbook.
And there's no reason why
the Ukrainians would do this.
Of course, they're not inflicting
suffering on their own people.
They're fighting for their own freedom
and for their own people.
So it wouldn't certainly wouldn't
make any sense
for them to be involved in any way.
And so what we don't know is
whether this was a purposeful targeting
or whether it was Russians
actually just not keeping in good repair.
Critical infrastructure
that was under their control.
If Russia was, in fact,
behind this, congressman,
how should the United States respond?
Well,
one thing that I've done, Wolf, is I'm
actually leading an effort in the House
to push the administration,
the Biden administration,
to release critical
intelligence information
to the International Criminal Court
for the prosecution
of Russian war crimes.
In December,
I supported an effort
to authorize the administration to share
intelligence with the ICC
for those prosecutions.
They have not yet done that.
So I just today
actually released
a bipartisan letter that I led
with over 20 of my colleagues,
Republicans and Democrats,
that encouraged the administration
to use that authority,
because perpetrators of these crimes
must be held accountable.
Starting with Vladimir Putin, he's
already been
indicted by the ICC, actually,
for targeting a civilian infrastructure.
But every other rank
and file
member of the Russian military
that is engaged in these crimes,
you know, moving forward requires
accountable ability
for those who have committed crimes
throughout all of history.
You can't move forward
and you can't remedy these things
without accountability.
Congressman Crowley,
thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you.