US looking at intel reports blaming Russia for Ukraine dam attack: Official

The United States government has intelligence leaning towards blaming Russia for the destruction of a massive dam in Ukraine, NBC News reported on Tuesday, citing two US officials and one Western official.

President Joe Biden’s administration was working to declassify some of the intelligence and share it as early as Tuesday afternoon, NBC News reported.

National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the US was aware of reports that Russia was responsible for the explosion but couldn’t confirm the news. “We’re doing the best we can to assess those reports. And we are working with Ukrainians to gather more information, but we cannot say conclusively what happened at this point,” Kirby said.

A torrent of water burst through the massive dam on the Dnipro River that separates Russian and Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine on Tuesday, flooding a swathe of the war zone and forcing villagers to flee.

Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam while the Kremlin said it was Ukraine that had sabotaged the dam.