Norwegian seismological institute Norsar detected “an explosion” coming from the area of ​​the Ukrainian dam Kakhovka at the time of its destruction on Tuesday, one of its top executives said today.

This announcement, which does not attribute its origin to explosionreinforces the version that the hydroelectric dam located in an area under Russian control did not fail due to damage sustained during the bombings in the previous months.

The destruction of the hydroelectric dam, for which Moscow and Kiev blame each other, resulted in the flooding of towns and villages located on both banks of the Dnieper River, including districts of Kherson, the capital of district, and forced thousands of people to leave their homes.

See related: Kahovka Dam: Drone captures the scale of the disaster – Dozens of houses under water (Video)

The explosion was recorded in Romania

“We are certain there was an explosion,” Norsar head of department Ben Dando told AFP.

According to this independent seismological research institute, the explosion occurred at 02.54 local time, at a location whose coordinates correspond to that of the Kahovka dam, on the river Dnieper.

The explosion was recorded by the Bukovina measuring station at Romaniaabout 620 km from where it occurred.

Its size is “between 1 and 2”, said Norsar, which has not yet calculated its equivalent in tonnes of TNT, which assumes a combination of factors.

“This is not a weak explosion,” Dando clarified.