KYIV, June 6 — Russia blew up the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine to prevent Ukrainian forces crossing the Dnipro river, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command said today.

"This is a hysterical reaction,” spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk told an online briefing. "They were aware that the movement of the (Ukrainian) defence forces would take place and in this way tried to influence the defence forces so that the crossing of the Dnipro, which they feared, would not happen.” — Reuters