You seem to be misapprehending the dissent as an attempt to shift blame away from Russia, whereas in truth grossly negligent mismanagement of the dam to the point that it failed due to same would still make the dam failure entirely Russia's fault.
From
Sitrep for Jun. 8-10, 2023 (as of 08:00 a.m.):
Satellite images from May 2023 show water overflowing above the gates, indicating that the water level has exceeded even the surcharge reservoir level (16.6 m for the Kakhovka HPP, while the actual level reached 17.5 m in recent weeks). Furthermore, for eight months, water discharge occurred at one location near the main generator hall of the HPP, causing the dam to deteriorate. The gradual collapse of the road, as observed in the images from Jun. 2 to Jun. 5, which was previously slightly damaged due to shelling, according to an expert, indicates the gradual failure of the dam. The expert also believes that the explosions captured on the videos are too weak to cause significant damage to the dam. Even the explosion conducted by Russian forces in November could have only damaged the gate control mechanisms but not the structure itself.
US officials claim that a satellite equipped with infrared sensors captured an image consistent with a large explosion just before the dam collapsed. However, no specific time is mentioned. If it implies 2:50 a.m. local time (the time of explosion stated by Zelenskyy), it contradicts the reports of local residents about explosions half an hour before that.
Norwegian scientists found seismic shocks emanating from the area of Nova Kakhovka at 2:54 a.m., which they interpret as the aftermath of an explosion. However, this time also does not correspond to reports from local residents and the timestamp on thermal imaging video footage from Russian servicemen, showing that at 2:46 a.m. the dam was already destroyed but the main generator hall was still intact. This begs the question whether these seismic oscillations could have been caused by the destruction of the dam and the fall of a huge mass of water.
The anonymous engineers in The New York Times article claiming that if failure had occurred due to excessively high water levels, then the destruction would have started from the sides (where the dam meets the banks) — we assume they did not see satellite images and did not take into account how water discharge took place over the previous eight months.
Another expert we contacted for comment, a candidate of technical sciences in a relevant specialty, also confirmed that improper operation of the spillway observed on satellite images is an extremely serious problem which could have led to the breach of the Kakhovka dam.
Or if you prefer video, here's a guy who seems to have
independently come to the same conclusion:
(7:24 to skip the groundwork)