Russian despot Vladimir Putin's KH-101 missiles targeted Ukraine's largest hydro plant, the Dnipro Hydro-electric Power Plant.
The attack, which occurred on Saturday, June 1, left the plant in a critical condition, raising fears of a potential catastrophic flood downstream in the Dnipro River.
The Dnipro plant, situated on a bridge in Zaporizhzhia, was struck by the 600-mph rocket despite having been targeted by Russian forces previously on March 22.
Ukrainian workers were still in the process of repairing the plant from the previous attack when the missiles hit, exacerbating the damage caused.
The assault, part of an overnight blitz employing KH-101 missiles, marks the second major attack on the Dnipro Hydro-electric Power Plant since March.
The plant's generating capacity has been severely crippled, with any breach of the 200ft dam posing a significant risk of flooding downstream.
The significance of this attack lies in the potential threat it poses not only to the plant itself but also to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.
The Zaporizhzhia plant relies on external power sources to prevent a disaster, and any further aggression towards the dam could lead to floods affecting nearby Ukrainian cities, including Zaporizhzhia, Nikopol, and Kherson, impacting nearly 900,000 people.
Ivan Fedorov, a Zaporizhzhia official, expressed the critical condition of the Dnipro Hydro-electric Power Station, emphasizing the urgency in addressing the situation promptly.
Amidst the destruction caused, he stated, "We will certainly do everything as quickly as possible, and the enemy will answer for all this."
The use of KH-101 missiles by Russia in both the recent attack and the previous strike in March highlights the severity of the situation. These long-range rockets, each costing $10 million, are capable of devastating moving targets, as seen in the destruction inflicted upon the hydro plant.
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The ongoing assaults by Russian forces on energy facilities across different regions in Ukraine, including Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kirovohrad, and Ivano-Frankivsk, have resulted in debilitating electricity outages for the civilian population.
Moreover, past incidents, such as the breach of the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023, underscore the ecological and humanitarian consequences of such attacks.