[Goose]

It does now appear Russia blew the dam.

The road access to where the dam was compromised was cut off from the Ukraine side, meaning only Russians had access to it. Second, Russia had closed the releases on the dam to increase the amount of water being held back by the dam in the days before it was blown, to maximize the amount of water release.

Or the Russians simply let too much water build up behind a compromised dam during the spring melt. Nothing in the above provides evidence anybody at all "blew" the dam. It does provide evidence Ukraine would have had a more difficult time than Russia in "blowing up" that part of the dam, but still lacks evidence of an explosion. More and more, it is looking like the dam failed, rather than the dam blew up. This article states what AFAIK is actually what is "known".
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/06/118041010...porizhzhia
Of course, Russia may have deliberately allowed the dam to fail by not releasing appropriate water quantities throughout the spring melt, which would normally have happened. They could also have just been too stupid to do so, or perhaps they couldn't due to other damage to the dam.

Most of the water has flooded and/or compromised water supplies in Russian-held territory, including Crimea. The flooding will subside in a week or two, but the damage to Russian held positions can't be undone.

Russia may have held off a Ukrainian attack in the short run with the water rise, but hard to see how Russian efforts to hold southern Ukraine won't be hurt more than Ukraine's effort to take it back, in the longer term. And in this case shorter term is a week or two, and longer is more than that.

Of course, these are all reasons to argue that Russia would be unlikely to "blow" the dam as it hurt them more than Ukraine. However, guessing Russian motivation based on what is their apparent self-interest often doesn't work. It may be somebody panicked and set off the charges that were already known to be in place, or it may be "somebody" who didn't know the whole story ordered it. However, when one sees water already over-topping a dam several days before it fails, that would normally be an indication of serious problems without any explosives required. Dams aren't supposed to do that.

[Goose]

It does now appear Russia blew the dam.

The road access to where the dam was compromised was cut off from the Ukraine side, meaning only Russians had access to it. Second, Russia had closed the releases on the dam to increase the amount of water being held back by the dam in the days before it was blown, to maximize the amount of water release.

Or the Russians simply let too much water build up behind a compromised dam during the spring melt. Nothing in the above provides evidence anybody at all "blew" the dam. It does provide evidence Ukraine would have had a more difficult time than Russia in "blowing up" that part of the dam, but still lacks evidence of an explosion. More and more, it is looking like the dam failed, rather than the dam blew up. This article states what AFAIK is actually what is "known".
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/06/118041010...porizhzhia
Of course, Russia may have deliberately allowed the dam to fail by not releasing appropriate water quantities throughout the spring melt, which would normally have happened. They could also have just been too stupid to do so, or perhaps they couldn't due to other damage to the dam.

Most of the water has flooded and/or compromised water supplies in Russian-held territory, including Crimea. The flooding will subside in a week or two, but the damage to Russian held positions can't be undone.

Russia may have held off a Ukrainian attack in the short run with the water rise, but hard to see how Russian efforts to hold southern Ukraine won't be hurt more than Ukraine's effort to take it back, in the longer term. And in this case shorter term is a week or two, and longer is more than that.

Of course, these are all reasons to argue that Russia would be unlikely to "blow" the dam as it hurt them more than Ukraine. However, guessing Russian motivation based on what is their apparent self-interest often doesn't work. It may be somebody panicked and set off the charges that were already known to be in place, or it may be "somebody" who didn't know the whole story ordered it. However, when one sees water already over-topping a dam several days before it fails, that would normally be an indication of serious problems without any explosives required. Dams aren't supposed to do that.