• The Kakhovka dam was already damaged days before it collapsed on Tuesday, per the BBC and CNN.
• Satellite photos published by the BBC show that part of a roadway went missing between Thursday and Friday.
• It’s unclear who inflicted the damage to the roadway, or if it affected the eventual breach.

Satellite images of the Kakhovka Dam appear to show that it had already sustained structural damage days before it was destroyed on Tuesday. 

Photos taken of the facility last week show that a section of a bridge on the dam was already in disrepair at least four days before the dam burst, CNN and the BBC reported.

The BBC published two images of the roadway that show the bridge’s deteriorating condition between Thursday and Friday. The image from Friday, obtained by the BBC, shows a section of roadway missing from the bridge — damage that was not present on Thursday. 

CNN published a similar analysis on Tuesday but did not include the images. 

Both outlets reported that it’s unclear if the damage to the roadway affected the eventual breach of the Kakhovka dam. It’s also not clear if the damage was intentionally caused, or if it was the result of military actions from either Ukraine or Russia.

The destruction of the dam, located on the Dnipro River, has flooded dozens of villages south in the Kherson region. Surging water levels have prompted the evacuation of thousands downstream, and the breach threatens to drain a reservoir used to cool the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the north. 

The Kakhovka dam is also vital to the water supply of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for the breach, with its top diplomat saying that Kyiv used US-supplied HIMARS rockets to destroy the facility and open the door for an anticipated counteroffensive.

At the same time, Ukraine says Russia is responsible, claiming that Moscow detonated mines planted in the dam. Ukrainian UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said it was “physically impossible” to destroy the Kakhovka dam from the outside.

On Tuesday, US Deputy Ambassador to the United States Robert Wood told reporters that Washington still isn’t sure who caused the dam’s breach but was skeptical that Ukraine would carry out such an attack.

The respective defense ministries of Ukraine and Russia did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.