The dam of the Belgorod Reservoir was damaged, reportedly after Ukrainian strikes on July 19. This was reported by the Belgorod-based outlet Pepel, citing anonymous sources and its review of satellite imagery.
According to the outlet’s assessment, a spillway section about 30 meters long was damaged. The images, it says, show uncontrolled water discharge in that part of the structure. Pepel’s sources also said that the road running along the crest of the dam had been damaged.
As a result of the discharge, the Nezhegol River, located downstream, began to fill. In Shebekino, which the river passes through, beaches have already been flooded.
The outlet notes that the Belgorod Reservoir dam had already been damaged in the autumn of 2025. At that time, according to the authorities, repairs took five days. Pepel now believes the current damage may be more serious.
The report also draws a comparison with the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in Ukraine’s Kherson region in the summer of 2023. That disaster flooded several dozen settlements in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, and Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for it.