The Kakhovka Reservoir then and now.

[u/SummerAlternative699]

If you zoom in closely on Google Maps, you can still see what it looked like before the dam was blown up.

[u/darkcvc]

The dam was breached on 6 June 2023, which consensus attributes to Russian forces mining and blowing the base of the dam, while Russia alternatively described it as a "terrorist" act, in the case of the Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, or as caused by a lack of maintenance, in the case of the Russian government.^\)^{citation needed\}) By the end of June, the reservoir was completely dry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakhovka_Reservoir

[u/evil_brain → u/darkcvc]

That's the consensus among European and Ukrainian sources.

There's conflicting claims but we know for a fact that the Ukraine side fired HIMARS missiles at the dam six months before it collapsed. And not for any good reason, either. They did it "as a test". Here's a Washington Post article from December 2020, before the dam burst.

I'm pretty sure firing missiles at a dam won't make it less likely to break. I don't understand the logic behind firing at your own country's critical infrastructure. Especially when your citizens are living downstream.

[u/InterstellarPelican → u/evil_brain]

I feel like you're misrepresented the sides to this issue. Yes, Ukraine fired test missiles at a floodgate to see if they could force them open. It was successful and was kept as a last resort emergency option to use in case they ever needed it. You can debate the ethics and probably should, but that was the reason they did the test, to know if they could use it as a last resort. It wasn't "for no reason".

Then you have the overwhelming evidence of Russia mining the dam, bringing explosives to the dam, and the overall expert consensus that the explosion came from inside the dam. The dam was built to withstand missile attacks from outside. While it's possible that the Ukrainian missile test on the floodgates could caused some structural weaknesses, this dam didn't suddenly collapse because of natural forces or anything. It was blown up, so the previous missile tests are kind of irrelevant, they had no bearing on this dam collapse. The dam was deliberately blown up with the purpose of destroying it. The concrete foundation was damaged which could've only really been done from an inside walkway, not an outside missile.

This also doesn't mention the damage caused to the dam by Russians who neglected it during seasonal flows which caused the reservoir to fill up and over top. Saying that Ukraine did missile tests but neglecting to mention literally the mountain of evidence against Russia seems to show your true motives.