Ukrainian soldiers are steadily advancing, and Moscow-appointed authorities have begun evacuations of areas. The flood caused by the bursting of the dam would cover the retreat of Vladimir Putin’s troops from Kherson.
Russia has mined a hydroelectric dam, and plans to blow it up, endangering hundreds of thousands of people in Kherson, and potentially causing a nuclear disaster if the power plant’s cooling systems are affected of Zaporizhia, warned Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukrainian soldiers are steadily advancing, and authorities deployed by Moscow in the region have begun evacuations of civilians. The floods caused by the bursting of the dam would be covered the retreat of the troops of Vladimir Putin from Kherson.
In particular, the Ukrainian president said that Russian forces had mined the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric dam with the intention of blowing it up, which would amount to “catastrophe on a large scale”. Now everyone in the world must act strongly and quickly to prevent another Russian terrorist attack, he pointed out.
Hundreds of thousands of people living around the Dnieper River would be at risk of flooding if the dam were to fail, Zelensky warned in a Thursday night speech to European leaders. He pointed out that a water cut in the south could also affect the cooling systems of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. This could lead to a nuclear disaster which Ukraine and its Western allies have feared since the start of the invasion.
The North Crimea Canal, which supplies water to Crimea, which has been held by Russia since 2014, could also be damaged, causing widespread damage. Russia’s goal is to stop the Ukrainian advance in the region and protect Russian troops, according to Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podoliak.
In recent days, Russia appears to be laying the groundwork for the destruction of the dam. The general Sergey Surovikin – Russia’s new supreme commander in Ukraine – spoke to Russian media about what he called a “catastrophic strike” on the Nova Kakhovka dam, which he said was planned by Kiev troops. Surovikin, who was also preparing Russian public opinion for a retreat from the region, saying himself that the explosion would flood Kherson and cause widespread damage. These statements are likely to set the stage for a provocation, with the destruction of the dam, which would cover the retreat of Russian forces and prove a distraction from its new humiliation on the battlefield, analysts from the Institute for Study of War (ISW).
Damage to the dam would cause another blow to the already damaged energy grid of Ukraine, with citizens having to prepare for rolling four-hour blackouts starting today after 1/3 of the country’s power stations were blown up in just over a week.
Ukraine has already hit the dam several times with long-range rockets because it ran over a key road, which Russia used to supply its troops. But Kiev’s attacks stopped when the road was destroyed.
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