Photographs have emerged of a car apparently laden with explosives parked at the top of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam shortly before it gave way.
The images, taken by a Ukrainian drone, were taken on May 28 and could provide further evidence Russia was behind the collapse.
The photo appears to show a white car with its roof cut open, revealing large barrels inside, one of which looks to have a landmine attached to its lid.
A cable runs from the barrel towards the side of the river held by Russian forces.
A Ukrainian special forces communications official said he believed the car was there to stop any Ukrainian advance on the dam and to amplify a planned explosion originating in the machine room.
More than 11,000 people have been evacuated since the dam collapsed on June 6, flooding land downstream.
Russian officials said 35 people had died in the areas of Kherson that were under its control while Ukraine’s interior ministry said they were aware of 17 deaths and 31 people who had gone missing.
Both countries have blamed each other for the environmental and human disaster.
It came as it emerged Russia appears to have started using “tank bombs” to target Ukraine.
Moscow is said to have started packing older tanks with explosives and driving them into enemy lines.
Dramatic footage showed a massive explosion after Ukraine blew up a tank loaded with explosives apparently being driven towards their troops.
Drone footage shows Ukraine attacking the T-54/55 “vehicle-borne improvised explosive device”, which was said to have been rigged with six tonnes of TNT.
“The attempt failed as the remotely-controlled bomb ran into a mine 100m from the front line, and was then hit by a Ukrainian RPG shot, causing a huge explosion,” reported Calibre Obscura, a Twitter account that has extensively covered footage and claims that emerge from Ukraine.
A vast shockwave blows out from the vehicle.
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian major general, said: “So it is interesting that the Russians, having flooded the battlefield in Ukraine with thousands of autonomous aerial vehicles, are finally deploying ground-based unscrewed combat vehicles.
“And even if they are slow and easy to target, with that much explosive they do not have to get very close to the Ukrainian military forces to cause death or destruction. The Russians are sure to continue trailing this approach, and learning.”
