In the early hours of 26 February 2022, Ukrainian air defences shot down a Russian missile reportedly heading for the Kyiv dam on the Dnieper River.
The hydropower reservoir behind the dam, which Russian forces had unsuccessfully attempted to seize on the first day of Putin's invasion of Ukraine, stretches for 110km, covering an area two-thirds the size of London.
Had the dam been breached, 1.2 cubic kilometres of water would have been unleashed as a maelstrom of diluvian destr...
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Nicholas Hildyard works with The Corner House, a UK environmental justice research and advocacy group. Josh Klemm is co-executive eirector at International Rivers, a non-profit that advocates for the protection of rivers and the rights of river-dependent communities.