The Ukrainian troops they saw Russian soldiers to they are swept away by the waters and fleeing the eastern bank of the Dnipro River after the collapse of the Nova Khakovka dam, a Ukrainian armed forces officer said. Many Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in the chaos, according to the officer as reported by CNN.

Captain Andrei Pidlisnyi said that when the dam collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning “no one from the Russian side could escape. All the regiments the Russians had on that side were flooded.”

Pidlisnyi told CNN he believes the Russians deliberately attacked the dam to “disrupt” Ukrainian forces’ plans for an upcoming attack.

“Around 3 a.m., the enemy blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station to raise the water level to flood the approaches and the left bank of the Dnipro River, as well as the settlements located there. And make it impossible for the Ukrainian armed forces to advance in the future,” he argued.

Pidlisnyi explained that the stratification of the land around the river meant that the Russian army – located on the east bank – suffered serious consequences in the dam burst. His unit was able to monitor the unfolding events through the use of drones and troops on the scene.

“The left one [ανατολική] bank is lower than the right bank, so it is more flooded. Enemy positions right on the river bank were also flooded. You must understand that the enemy’s positions are not only trenches, but also ordinary houses of civilians where they lived,” Pidlisni said.

Russian units at risk may not have been warned, possibly to maintain the element of surprise, Pidlisnyi said.

Ukraine’s government repeated Pidlisnyi’s claim that Russia deliberately blew up the dam, while the Kremlin said Kiev forces carried out the attack.

In fact, evidence to definitively support either side’s claim has yet to emerge, while analysis of videos of the dam and its subsequent breach, and in particular examination of satellite imagery, suggest that the collapse could have been the result of structural failure since the Russians seized the dam in March last year.