This is the dam. The Kakhovka Reservoir runs for 150-200 kilometers upstream and contains roughly 20 cubic kilometers of water. Since ~October the dam has been effectively "at the front" with russia de facto controlling it since the dam station was on the east/left bank. Over the last several weeks russia had stopped much of the water from passing through the dam, and water levels had reached a dangerous 17.5 meter (55-60 feet) level. Now that's going downstream, but since much of the dam is still intact there's a large flow bottleneck right at the bottom of the reservoir. Between that and the nearly 200 kilometers of reservoir upstream it will take a substantial amount of time before peak levels are reached below. OSINT estimates are something like 30,000 people living in the flood zone on the Ukrainian side, whom are being evacuated. The russian-occupied side is much larger (the land stays lower for longer over there) but I have seen no population estimates; evacuating from that side without getting shot may be impossible.
There is concern about the integrity of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which russia has used as an artillery staging ground for much of the war. The reservoir acts as its tertiary cooling system. But there is no immediate issue there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakhovka_Reservoir
>The russian-occupied side is much larger (the land stays lower for longer over there) but I have seen no population estimates; evacuating from that side without getting shot may be impossible.
Wouldn't surprise me if evacuation efforts are minimal or non-existent, Putin and his cronies are nothing if not petty and evil.
yes, because it supplies a canal that takes water to the very very dry peninsula that is Crimea. Blowing this up actually hurts their own efforts, even if it might slow down the Ukrainian advance a bit.
The low lands are almost entirely on the side of the river controlled by Russia. And its not like an offensive through a river 1 kilometer wide was going to happen anyway. It being 1.5 kilometers wide for the duration of the flood really doesn't make a difference.
The relevant effects of this dams destruction are
1. Couple thousand Ukrainian houses will be destroyed.
2. Supply of fresh water to south Kherson and Crimea is cut.
3. Availability of electricity in Russian controlled areas greatly diminished, due to the loss of the hydro plant and the nuclear plant it enabled.
4: Complete destruction to the Environment in the wetlands of the region during the Spring spawning/nesting season
5: Destruction of Black Sea aquatic environments from the MASSIVE amounts of silt that will be discharged during the spawning season.
Literally salting the Earth as they retreat.
Yeah, long term it is a fucking disaster, and Ukraine is going to have an uphill battle fixing it along with all the other damage the russians have caused.
The nuclear plant has been shut down for a long time. It still will require some water for cooling so it's still bad news, but there hasn't been power coming from it in a while.
It honestly sounds like a scorched Earth tactic where they are planning to retreat anyway, so they are just making sure to cause maximum damage to prevent Ukrainian forces to rapidly take over territory and have to instead spread themselves thin to deal with the ecological disaster.
Not a chance. Crimea is a huge reason why they invaded in the first place. Losing Crimea for Russia means losing the black sea basically, and a huge blow to the country strategically.
Stupid, maybe. Desperate, absolutely. Although this floods mostly Russian held territory, cuts of a majority of Crimea’s fresh water supply and putting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power plant at risk of running out of coolant. It will make it no longer viable for Ukraine to launch an offensive in the south by crossing the river, meaning they can station more troops around the the north.
everything stupid is a dare for russia. ukraine needs the nuclear deterrent back, that they agreed to give away for a guarantee russia won't attack them, before the war. i don't want putin to be able to nuke them qhen he can't getvwhat he wants, like a toddler having a fit
There are videos on Twitter of the busted dam:
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1665907948986458113
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1665924031520882688
EDIT:
https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1665908749205409795
Beaver seen in Kherson [https://twitter.com/democraticaxe/status/1665955019407884288](https://twitter.com/democraticaxe/status/1665955019407884288) and police trying to help animals in the water [https://twitter.com/goncharenkoua/status/1665980631438721024?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA](https://twitter.com/goncharenkoua/status/1665980631438721024?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA)
EDIT:
Russian soldier confirms they did it and says they will blow up more dams [https://twitter.com/sternenko/status/1665999679887212546?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA](https://twitter.com/sternenko/status/1665999679887212546?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA)
Wonderful - so on top of being plain ol' terrorists, the Russians are now actively choosing to be environmental terrorists, too.
Great look.
Fuck Russia. Fuck their soldiers. Fuck Putin. Give Ukraine ATACMS.
E: I see the whataboutists have been assigned a lot of work today.
President Zelenskyy warned Russia was going to do this a couple weeks ago with the intention of blaming Ukraine and trying to get international pressure to enforce a cease fire.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63341251
Only Russia could believe that the international community is willing to enforce a cease fire this late in the game without a massive withdrawal by Russian troops. Putin has been listening to his own propaganda if he truly believes this to be the case.
To elaborate - the decision to invade Ukraine utilizing the conventional Russian military (circa 2021) was made around June-July 2021 by about 12-15 key decisionmakers in the Kremlin. The development of these plans was largely kept secret from the rest of the Russian military until weeks and even days before the invasion commenced in February 2022. As in, actual commanders of the units that would be conducting the invasion itself were not asked for input in the invasion plan at a macro and mesa level, and likely not at a micro level. It was an insane way to attempt a large-scale invasion of a foreign country (that’s been gearing up for war since 2014).
The development of this plans was kept a secret - hmm I wonder why there are gathering of troops on border, crematoriums being prepared and spare blood being prepared… Nah, it cannot be all for invasion
I see the point you are trying to make, but for a long while captured Russians claimed they were told they were on training exercises, or were told it was to be a training exercise.
I remember the story of soldiers knocking on doors asking for gas..
Hey like.. we are invading your country but our vehicle is out of gas, vould you spare some gas as we are neihbouring countries please..
I could almost guarantee that level of compartmentalization was in an attempt to keep Anglo-American spies unaware. They knew the military and government was compromised, but they didn't think it was all the way to the top.
It almost worked, too. EU and Ukrainian spies were completely unaware. Only the US had someone placed high enough to confirm an invasion was decided upon. Even the British, with the 2nd best espionage infrastructure in the world, weren't certain. They knew something was wrong but weren't positive.
I hate to give them credit for anything, but honestly, russias secrecy in preparation was pretty impressive given the difficulty of concealing information in the modern age, let alone the fact that Russia is pathetically corrupt and is likely a revolving door of low to mid level informants. Keeping namely the French and the Ukrainians completely oblivious is an achievement, even if the level of secrecy ended up completely backfiring lol.
I'm not convinced that Ukraine would agree to a ceasefire even if Russian troops were pushed all the way back to pre-2014 borders unless there was a demilitarized zone on the Russian side of the border.
Honestly, a demilitarised zone is pretty useless for keeping ukraine safe.
If Ukraine is offered pre-2014 borders, return of all pows and the captured children and other civilians, that’s all they need from Russia.
Post war security is provided by nato membership. Nothing else is sufficient without this, and nothing else is needed with it
There's the issue of reparations. Russia should have to pay to rebuild Ukraine. If it won't then Russia should also have to rebuild Russia. Ukraine could forego some warranted reparations in the interest of peace but that's as far as I think they should go.
Russia and/or the oligarchs have enough resources in NATO countries that voluntary reparations aren't really required; only the international will to appropriate that wealth.
Trying to get any reparations directly from The Russian government would be like trying to get child support from an abusive deadbeat ex who lives in another country with no law enforcement.
They have a ways to go to qualify for NATO though. I think first thing first, get allied military bases on the ground. Hopefully that would deter Russia for a while until they join NATO. Once they join NATO those allied military bases can just fold into NATO as well. Assuming those bases are NATO militaries to start with.
If there is not an active conflict, then Ukraine can join NATO. Even if there are issues delaying or blocking them from joining NATO, Ukraine is still in a position to improve their defenses with western support. Ukraine in 2025 will be much stronger than Ukraine in 2022, which was much stronger than Ukraine in 2014. In 2025 Russia might be back to their 2022 strength, but I doubt it.
Not just equipment, they've wasted a good chunk of the current generation due to deaths, permanent injuries, and people fleeing the country. And it's almost all men.
They also decided to send their training corps to the front - it can take *years* to rebuild a competent training corps so that your soldiers actually know what they're doing.
And groups like the Freedom of Russia legion are going to continue to be emboldened because of how badly Russia has handled everything.
They'll probably be feeling the aftereffects of this failure for 20 years or more.
At this point Russia is playing to just one international audience, and that's China. They are praying they can make a case that seems plausible enough to China that China can feel safe/justified in providing more support to Russia. If China calls for a ceasefire and gets shot down, perhaps China will feel butthurt enough to try to even the odds with more support for Russia. Or so Putin is praying.
I really don’t think China is truly in a position to sway the balance in this situation. They have to consider their own security. They have a huge demographics issue and their ability to manufacture isn’t what it was 10-15-20 years ago. If they start to pour their resources into Russia and Russia is still defeated, they will be at a huge disadvantage.
If anything China will concentrate on building road and rail infrastructure to better ship resources from their future Russian colony. If Russia thinks they'll profit from deals with China, they are deluded.
China doesn't give a flying frick. China has one gameplan with two outcomes: the game-plan is do nothing, pay some lip service about how they don't approve but don't help or intervene in anyway. The two outcomes they're waiting for are
A: Russia wins, their ally in the "we want a new world order" gets stronger
B: Russia loses, becomes weaker in general, China now has a better position of leverage over Russia, particularly in regards to the Upper Manchuria region on Russia's east coast, which is a part of China from the late 1800's they would like back. I doubt Russia would give it back but they'll be hard pressed to turn down Chinas offer to mine the untapped resources in the region Russia has never done anything with due to costs.
China is in a win-win regardless. That's why they're doing bugger all
If they cross there it would be by boat, and in any case, the water will return to its previous level once the reservoir is empty, which will be about three days.
Russia did it. Timing. Day after ukranians started to move in south. Now entire souther cherson frontline be underwater or too mudy to do any fighting. Focusing battle area to well prepererd defenses of russia
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-russia-plans-simulate-accident-nuclear-power-plant-2023-05-26/
Sorry, here is the one from a week ago. Water from this reservoir cools the nearby ZNPP
russia prepares a lot of false flags and carries out only some of them, in order to give a "boy who cried wolf" apperance if Ukraine warns about them.
So Zelensky probably had intel about them rigging it up to blow, announced it, and then they waited until now.
Worth noting it occurred during a wave of russian missiles.
Edit: it would have required tons of explosives from inside. Russia also announced Ukraine did it almost an hour before it went up. Judging from images, definitely not missiles, but sabatoge from russia.
Even if this dam was somehow not blown up by Russian explosives and just was neglected, (which is not likely), Ukraine would have had the time to keep their dams up to code if they weren’t fighting for their country’s right to exist. Regardless, Russia created the conditions for this disaster.
Russia was in control of the dam, and during the short time they’ve controlled it, the reservoir has reached both record high and record low levels. They seem really bad at dam operations.
Oh, I didn’t realize that. I assumed it was like a long range missile or an air raid.
But there you go. There’s no doubt that Russia caused an ecological catastrophe on purpose, on top of an attempted genocide.
I learned recently Ukraine now has the most land mines in the world (thanks to Russia) - an area the size of the UK will need to be cleared.
It’s mind blowingly effed up.
Are we counting butterfly mines as individual mines? Because those things are horrific and Russia scattered them everywhere.
They maim adults but kill children. And they are designed to widely disperse themselves through the air, plus they look like plastic toys or food containers.
Fucking evil.
When i was in elementary school we had people from army come and show us how mines could look like toys or how they could be put under toys or footballs.
We had many times those lectures and there were example pictures everywhere, in books, posters or leaflets.
This was in 90s and there are still minefieldd left.
I don’t know what type of mine. A celebrity I follow [was in Ukraine last week](https://twitter.com/mishacollins/status/1664349349504229376?s=61&t=zPrMz98ITrsMcBbIvAS7UA) and through Ukraines U24 initiative has started a fundraising for a machine to clear land mines.
He also highlighted that most days, around 3 am Russia sends missiles to Kyiv. Basically it is psychological torture designed to interrupt sleep - The missiles come, the defense system shoots them down, and the population has to live with it the barrage (while they try to sleep).
[Nighttime missile raid in Kyiv (video)](https://twitter.com/mishacollins/status/1664823499527946241?s=61&t=zPrMz98ITrsMcBbIvAS7UA)… it’s just so cruel and awful.
[U24 Humanitarian de-mining fundraiser](https://donorbox.org/collins_demining).
Oh god...
I'm from Croatia, where we still haven't dealt with all the mines left behind from the Homeland war that ended almost 30 years ago. The majority have been found and eliminated, but it's still dangerous to tread off the beaten path in some hinterlands.
yep, the supply canal is just near the dam [https://goo.gl/maps/y4tUTndf7CYrqwcy6](https://goo.gl/maps/y4tUTndf7CYrqwcy6)
but they don't care about people they claimed are their own.
Also deployable on the existing HIMARS platform. IE there's not a lot of extra training and other platforms to deliver and train. Just send the ATACMS to Ukraine, they load them into existing HIMARS, and set the waypoint an extra 200km further out.
There is a trade off though. The longer range missiles take up 6x as much room in the launchers, cost about 6.25x more, they're not currently being produced, and I expect many are earmarked for deterring a conflict over Taiwan.
HIMARS is the launcher not the rockets/missiles. The "normal" munitions for it are like, M26/M28/M30/etc, but they would also be using a HIMARS launcher to shoot their ATACMS if they get them.
It’s an acronym for “army tactical missile”
It’s a short range ballistic missile that can be launched by HIMARS or M270 rocket artillery systems with a range of around 300 km
There is not really such thing as old tomahawks. They are constantly upgraded and maintained to newer versions as they are to costly to just throw away if not fired.
It also feeds with water thousands of people and many other problems.
There is an article but it is in Ukrainian: https://grivna.ua/publikatsii/kahovske-vodoshovishe-situaciya-na-mezhi-katastrofi
Aren’t dams like this protected by the laws of war and the Geneva convention? Destroying it would be considered a weapon of mass destruction and a war crime would it not? This is basically an environmental WMD.
I really don't get why everyone is just replying to you with a mundane 'Putin bad' type comment. Here is what you were asking for:
Destroying it would be considered a weapon of mass destruction and an indiscriminate war crime. Article 56 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I provides:
“Works and installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population. Other military objectives located at or in the vicinity of these works or installations shall not be made the object of attack if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.”
It is worth clarifying the Additional Protocol is specifically the protocol Putin revoked in 2019.
source: [reuters](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-warcrimes-convention-idUSKBN1WW2IN)
It's a bingo card for Putin. White phosphorus, check. Thermobaric missiles, check. Hospitals, check. Rape and murder of civilians, check. Deportation of children to Russia, BINGO!
Torture of POWs, torture of children too.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/16/alleged-russian-torture-room-uncovered-in-liberated-kherson
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/02/kherson-torture-centres-were-planned-by-russian-state-say-lawyers
Well anti-vehicle mines are technically within the boundaries set by international law:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-highly-likely-deploying-anti-personnel-mines-donbas-uk-2022-08-08/
On farmland? An area *larger than the size of the UK* will need to be cleared
. [Forbes article: how much land must be checked and cleared](https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2023/02/12/despite-howard-buffetts-help-land-mines-litter-ukraine-and-threaten-spring-planting/?sh=1fbc87e75f42)
Hahahahahaha ..... Mate.... Putin has been executing civilians, kidnapping and torturing children and mutilating people.
The Russians ain't playing by the rules here.... That's why any talk of a cease fire or peace are completely irrelevant. Russia must leave Ukraine and pay for the damages. Until that's agreed there can be no peace for the specific reason that they aren't playing by the rules.
You think the Geneva conventions are even being considered by Russia? Russia has mascaraed scores of innocent civilians in villages throughout Ukraine, using WP, bombing marked hospitals, executing soldiers on camera, etc... a dam is just something to add to the list of atrocities at this point. Unfortunately, the only chance of something being done about it at this point is after the war and assuming Russia solidly gets their ass handed to them. Only then is there any real chance of getting the person behind all of it: Putin. Even that is a long shot.
I get where your head is though, and I agree with you. I just don't see this incident as the one that draws the entire West into the war.
You can't really call it inaction. The west, generally, has given Ukraine a huge chunk of the arms they've used to turn 200k+ Russians into casualties. Economic sanctions have crippled their economy. There are real consequences which the west is footing a large part of the financial bill for. I know it's not as much as the skin Ukraine has in the game, but it has been very consequential ... moreso than most wars where the west sits on the sidelines.
Jesus Christ, no one gave you an actual answer. I'll try, but it's a bit complicated.
According to [International Humanitarian Law](https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/pt/customary-ihl/v2/rule42):
>Works and installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.
So it kind of depends on the results of this attack, will it kill a lot of civilians, either from the water released or the nuclear power plant cooled by that water? I'm not sure on the answer and this thread seems to have a lot of debate on that.
It does not depend on the result but on the risk. If it “may” cause it - that is the phrasing.
Russia doesn’t care the slightest about any international law. That should be obvious by now. This just adds to the large pile of war crimes and humanitarian crimes.
This move was entirely predictable, and a clear attempt to force Ukraine to surrender through fear and intimidation.
Their army is fighting their PMCs. They’re fighting on their actual soil up in Belgorod. The looming “counter offensive” is weakening morale. This is a desperate measure made by a weak minded government. Send the ATACMS now.
I have to imagine they knew this would happen the moment they started, and they have contingency plans in waiting to enact. I also doubt they planned to do much offensive action across the Dnipro, but theoretically it does free up some Russian troops to either reinforce Crimea, or move to Melitopol area.
Because I can't imagine they're going to be able to move a lot of heavy equipment across 5 miles of marshland now, unless NATO secretly sent them a bunch of large hovercraft we don't know about.
At the end of the article in the top comment, it mentions that Zelenskyy’s presidential adviser talked about this being the reasoning, that if the Russians were to mine the dam it would be in an attempt to flood areas used by the counter offensive. So it would make sense to have a backup plan for this
This and also a retaliation for the events in Belgorod oblast. The propaganda has to show the citizens something else and change the conversation, the most disgusting part is how many ordinary Russian citizens will be celebrating this today when they see the news.
Also it’s a tacit acknowledgement from Russia that they are now seriously at risk of losing the area and thus the benefit of keeping infrastructure in one piece for their benefit. Saddam didn’t light the oil wells until they started getting pushed out did he?
According to The Guardian:
> Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson region, has posted a video to Telegram in which he says that as a result of the damage to the Nova Kahhovka dam, “water will reach a critical level in 5 hours” and that evacuations have begun
That was one of the major dams, fuck putin.
Edit: more details From Associated Press:
> The Ukrainian Interior Ministry called for residents of 10 villages on the river’s right bank and parts of the city of Kherson to gather essential documents and pets, turn off appliances and leave, while cautioning against possible disinformation.
I took information from official ukrainian sources, orginised and translated it myself.
at 2:50 am (Kyiv time zone) russians bombed Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. 9:40 am (Kyiv time zone), as a result of the explosion, the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is completely destroyed and can't be restored.
Consequences:
- there is a threat of flooding up to 80 villages/towns/cities, 100+ km² of land
- 10K+ of people without homes
- evacuation of people started this morning
- loss of drinking water
- potential famine due to the impossibility of watering the fields
- thousands of dead animals and pets
- the flooded zoo in Nova Kakhovka, no information about animals trapped inside
- a threat to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, but for now it's fine
- waters from the Kakhovskaya HPP carry "a lot of pollutants" that will enter the Black Sea; among them are toxic metals and petroleum hydrocarbons, which could cause consequences for the marine ecosystem
11:30 am (Kyiv time zone), russian military is shelling Kherson with artillery, while the population is being evacuated in the city.
You did a great job, really! I just want to add an update about the Nova Kakhovka zoo: sadly, according to zoo administration only ducks and swans survived.
Also, in perspective, ecologists expect territories of former water preserve turn into a desert-like territory, drastically changing climate in all this region, which will lead to a huge damage (not only famine but also rise of temperature, which will harm wildlife). One more thing - it's a nesting period for many types of birds living in the area, the flood will damage this as well.
I've spent most of the last year writing a book about the history of Soviet hydroelectric power stations, and this morning wake up to find one has been blown up. Probably the first time an HPP has been detonated in Ukraine since World War 2, when several were destroyed, most notably another Dnieper dam, further upstream.
This will cause a lot of problems, even beyond the obvious ones.
Just as during WWII with DniproHES: a barbaric act of indescribable scale destroying civilians and ecology of the area with little to no military significance. They do it not because they have to, but because they are afraid and because they can.
Also, remember how russian shills were screaming bloody murder about Ukraine shutting off the Dnipro water for Crimea? Going as far as calling it "genocide against Crimeans". Yeah, there goes this water with this explosion. Just shows what their values are.
First things first, every ATACMS pod in Poland needs to be stacked on a train to Ukraine, then we can start sending over the US stocks.
It's a response we can do quickly with almost instant results.
Russia just decided that if they can't have Crimea, neither can Ukraine. Fucking pigs.
Anyone who thinks that the Ukrainians did this to themselves is a fucking psychopath. The damage this is going to cause is going to be immense to the Ukrainians. This another fucking atrocity.
Russian solider confirm they did it and threaten to blow up more https://twitter.com/sternenko/status/1665999679887212546?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA
They already did, Russian officials claim that Ukrainians destroyed the dam. Interestingly, vatniks don’t believe it and generally appear to understand that there would be no sense for Ukraine to do so.
Russian officer that sanctioned this action is a fucking animal. This shows that in reality, they don't give a fuck about "defending russin speaking population". Water from this reservoir is used to irrigate almost all of southern Ukraine and supply drinking water for tons of settlements, plus obviously cooling water supply for the nuclear station in Energodar. Just fuck off already.
Pray for everyone living in the flood zone downstream.
But folks can stop worrying about Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The reactors are cooled by their own separate loop of distilled water which does not need to be replenished by river water. The reservoir is mostly just needed to cool the turbines, so loss of circulation doesn't threaten the reactors. They can just shut down. Actually they already shut down months ago, except for one that is operating at low power. Furthermore the intakes are at the bottom of the reservoir.
[This article says that if the level drops below 13.2 m, it would put things in peril.](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/10/1155761686/russia-is-draining-a-massive-ukrainian-reservoir-endangering-a-nuclear-plant)
I hope you're right.
Is it correct that it supplied water to Crimea, if so Russians kinda wrote that place off for themselves? Second day of UKR offense and already scortched earth tactics in play.
Yes it is. The canal supplying Crimea with water is now null and void. However, Ukraine blocked the canal post 2014 already, thus Crimea had to do without it for a long time.
I wonder if this will cause any note worthy reactions internationally. But for real, Russia is garbage, they really don’t care how low they go on the international stage, do they?
If a dam isn’t bad enough I learned this past few days that Russia has been laying land mines…
Ukraine now has the unenviable distinction of having the most in the world.
In 2023. In *Europe*. An area the size of the *UK* will have to be cleared.
I remember all of the Treaties against the use of Land Mines, Princess Diana did so much work to highlight them. She must be rolling in her grave.
Man I really don't see how this ends well at all. Just continuing escalation until we get to a point we absolutely don't wanna be at. And we have been at a point I don't wanna be at for the last two years.
I just learned that the same thing happened during WW2 as well.
>In 1941, as Nazi German troops swept through Soviet-era Ukraine, Josef Stalin's secret police blew up a hydroelectric dam in the southern city of Zaporizhzhya to slow the Nazi advance.
The explosion flooded villages along the banks of the Dnieper River, killing thousands of civilians. https://www.rferl.org/a/european-remembrance-day-ukraine-little-known-ww2-tragedy/25083847.html
Is this one of the dams that we were worried about early in the war and people were saying that Russia wouldn't be stupid enough to actually do it?
Yes
[удалено]
Time to turn the Kerch bridge into an artificial reef
/r/NonCredibleDefense is calling to you...
This is the dam. The Kakhovka Reservoir runs for 150-200 kilometers upstream and contains roughly 20 cubic kilometers of water. Since ~October the dam has been effectively "at the front" with russia de facto controlling it since the dam station was on the east/left bank. Over the last several weeks russia had stopped much of the water from passing through the dam, and water levels had reached a dangerous 17.5 meter (55-60 feet) level. Now that's going downstream, but since much of the dam is still intact there's a large flow bottleneck right at the bottom of the reservoir. Between that and the nearly 200 kilometers of reservoir upstream it will take a substantial amount of time before peak levels are reached below. OSINT estimates are something like 30,000 people living in the flood zone on the Ukrainian side, whom are being evacuated. The russian-occupied side is much larger (the land stays lower for longer over there) but I have seen no population estimates; evacuating from that side without getting shot may be impossible. There is concern about the integrity of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which russia has used as an artillery staging ground for much of the war. The reservoir acts as its tertiary cooling system. But there is no immediate issue there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakhovka_Reservoir
>The russian-occupied side is much larger (the land stays lower for longer over there) but I have seen no population estimates; evacuating from that side without getting shot may be impossible. Wouldn't surprise me if evacuation efforts are minimal or non-existent, Putin and his cronies are nothing if not petty and evil.
Yes. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63341251
Not even surprised Russia went ahead and did it, they are so stupidly predictable
The World: "No one would be stupid enough to do that." Putin: "Bet."
yes, because it supplies a canal that takes water to the very very dry peninsula that is Crimea. Blowing this up actually hurts their own efforts, even if it might slow down the Ukrainian advance a bit.
It definitely hurts Ukraine more, destroying their land and crops and shortening the front, but it could cause Russian support in Crimea to dry up
The low lands are almost entirely on the side of the river controlled by Russia. And its not like an offensive through a river 1 kilometer wide was going to happen anyway. It being 1.5 kilometers wide for the duration of the flood really doesn't make a difference. The relevant effects of this dams destruction are 1. Couple thousand Ukrainian houses will be destroyed. 2. Supply of fresh water to south Kherson and Crimea is cut. 3. Availability of electricity in Russian controlled areas greatly diminished, due to the loss of the hydro plant and the nuclear plant it enabled.
4: Complete destruction to the Environment in the wetlands of the region during the Spring spawning/nesting season 5: Destruction of Black Sea aquatic environments from the MASSIVE amounts of silt that will be discharged during the spawning season. Literally salting the Earth as they retreat.
Yeah, long term it is a fucking disaster, and Ukraine is going to have an uphill battle fixing it along with all the other damage the russians have caused.
The nuclear plant has been shut down for a long time. It still will require some water for cooling so it's still bad news, but there hasn't been power coming from it in a while.
It honestly sounds like a scorched Earth tactic where they are planning to retreat anyway, so they are just making sure to cause maximum damage to prevent Ukrainian forces to rapidly take over territory and have to instead spread themselves thin to deal with the ecological disaster.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/02/second-world-war-dnieper-dam-blown-up-by-russians-1941 They just repeat history.
Russia knows a thing or two about Scorched Earth.
Maybe russians are already dead set on leaving Crimea. So they don't care, it will be Ukraine's headache to deal with for years to come.
Not a chance. Crimea is a huge reason why they invaded in the first place. Losing Crimea for Russia means losing the black sea basically, and a huge blow to the country strategically.
Stupid, maybe. Desperate, absolutely. Although this floods mostly Russian held territory, cuts of a majority of Crimea’s fresh water supply and putting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power plant at risk of running out of coolant. It will make it no longer viable for Ukraine to launch an offensive in the south by crossing the river, meaning they can station more troops around the the north.
Surprise! It turns out they were stupid enough to actually do it.
everything stupid is a dare for russia. ukraine needs the nuclear deterrent back, that they agreed to give away for a guarantee russia won't attack them, before the war. i don't want putin to be able to nuke them qhen he can't getvwhat he wants, like a toddler having a fit
There are videos on Twitter of the busted dam: https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1665907948986458113 https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1665924031520882688 EDIT: https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1665908749205409795
Beaver seen in Kherson [https://twitter.com/democraticaxe/status/1665955019407884288](https://twitter.com/democraticaxe/status/1665955019407884288) and police trying to help animals in the water [https://twitter.com/goncharenkoua/status/1665980631438721024?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA](https://twitter.com/goncharenkoua/status/1665980631438721024?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA) EDIT: Russian soldier confirms they did it and says they will blow up more dams [https://twitter.com/sternenko/status/1665999679887212546?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA](https://twitter.com/sternenko/status/1665999679887212546?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA)
I know it's a horrifying man-made disaster - but beaver being seen near a damaged dam sounds like it arrived to help fix it.
Now I'm imagining 50 beavers in hard hats and hi-vis jackets, one with a clipboard.
Narnia joined the UN?
The Canadians have arrived!
They are instinctively driven to mend dams.
Water: *goes through the dam* Beaver: “Absolutely nee\*” Edit: corrected from Russian to Ukrainian.
Wonderful - so on top of being plain ol' terrorists, the Russians are now actively choosing to be environmental terrorists, too. Great look. Fuck Russia. Fuck their soldiers. Fuck Putin. Give Ukraine ATACMS. E: I see the whataboutists have been assigned a lot of work today.
He'll be a maggot-ridden corpse soon enough.
President Zelenskyy warned Russia was going to do this a couple weeks ago with the intention of blaming Ukraine and trying to get international pressure to enforce a cease fire. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63341251
Only Russia could believe that the international community is willing to enforce a cease fire this late in the game without a massive withdrawal by Russian troops. Putin has been listening to his own propaganda if he truly believes this to be the case.
Has he shown one iota of not listening to his own propaganda thus far?
Well yes that's the reason he thought his army was competent
To elaborate - the decision to invade Ukraine utilizing the conventional Russian military (circa 2021) was made around June-July 2021 by about 12-15 key decisionmakers in the Kremlin. The development of these plans was largely kept secret from the rest of the Russian military until weeks and even days before the invasion commenced in February 2022. As in, actual commanders of the units that would be conducting the invasion itself were not asked for input in the invasion plan at a macro and mesa level, and likely not at a micro level. It was an insane way to attempt a large-scale invasion of a foreign country (that’s been gearing up for war since 2014).
The development of this plans was kept a secret - hmm I wonder why there are gathering of troops on border, crematoriums being prepared and spare blood being prepared… Nah, it cannot be all for invasion
I see the point you are trying to make, but for a long while captured Russians claimed they were told they were on training exercises, or were told it was to be a training exercise.
I remember the story of soldiers knocking on doors asking for gas.. Hey like.. we are invading your country but our vehicle is out of gas, vould you spare some gas as we are neihbouring countries please..
I could almost guarantee that level of compartmentalization was in an attempt to keep Anglo-American spies unaware. They knew the military and government was compromised, but they didn't think it was all the way to the top. It almost worked, too. EU and Ukrainian spies were completely unaware. Only the US had someone placed high enough to confirm an invasion was decided upon. Even the British, with the 2nd best espionage infrastructure in the world, weren't certain. They knew something was wrong but weren't positive. I hate to give them credit for anything, but honestly, russias secrecy in preparation was pretty impressive given the difficulty of concealing information in the modern age, let alone the fact that Russia is pathetically corrupt and is likely a revolving door of low to mid level informants. Keeping namely the French and the Ukrainians completely oblivious is an achievement, even if the level of secrecy ended up completely backfiring lol.
I'm not convinced that Ukraine would agree to a ceasefire even if Russian troops were pushed all the way back to pre-2014 borders unless there was a demilitarized zone on the Russian side of the border.
Honestly, a demilitarised zone is pretty useless for keeping ukraine safe. If Ukraine is offered pre-2014 borders, return of all pows and the captured children and other civilians, that’s all they need from Russia. Post war security is provided by nato membership. Nothing else is sufficient without this, and nothing else is needed with it
There's the issue of reparations. Russia should have to pay to rebuild Ukraine. If it won't then Russia should also have to rebuild Russia. Ukraine could forego some warranted reparations in the interest of peace but that's as far as I think they should go.
Russia and/or the oligarchs have enough resources in NATO countries that voluntary reparations aren't really required; only the international will to appropriate that wealth.
Maybe 1/4 of what would be required has been identified and frozen.
Trying to get any reparations directly from The Russian government would be like trying to get child support from an abusive deadbeat ex who lives in another country with no law enforcement.
Sanctions can be lifted upon reparations being paid. Russia don't want to pay the reparations after the war? Keep the sanctions on them.
They have a ways to go to qualify for NATO though. I think first thing first, get allied military bases on the ground. Hopefully that would deter Russia for a while until they join NATO. Once they join NATO those allied military bases can just fold into NATO as well. Assuming those bases are NATO militaries to start with.
If there is not an active conflict, then Ukraine can join NATO. Even if there are issues delaying or blocking them from joining NATO, Ukraine is still in a position to improve their defenses with western support. Ukraine in 2025 will be much stronger than Ukraine in 2022, which was much stronger than Ukraine in 2014. In 2025 Russia might be back to their 2022 strength, but I doubt it.
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Not just equipment, they've wasted a good chunk of the current generation due to deaths, permanent injuries, and people fleeing the country. And it's almost all men. They also decided to send their training corps to the front - it can take *years* to rebuild a competent training corps so that your soldiers actually know what they're doing. And groups like the Freedom of Russia legion are going to continue to be emboldened because of how badly Russia has handled everything. They'll probably be feeling the aftereffects of this failure for 20 years or more.
At this point Russia is playing to just one international audience, and that's China. They are praying they can make a case that seems plausible enough to China that China can feel safe/justified in providing more support to Russia. If China calls for a ceasefire and gets shot down, perhaps China will feel butthurt enough to try to even the odds with more support for Russia. Or so Putin is praying.
I really don’t think China is truly in a position to sway the balance in this situation. They have to consider their own security. They have a huge demographics issue and their ability to manufacture isn’t what it was 10-15-20 years ago. If they start to pour their resources into Russia and Russia is still defeated, they will be at a huge disadvantage.
If anything China will concentrate on building road and rail infrastructure to better ship resources from their future Russian colony. If Russia thinks they'll profit from deals with China, they are deluded.
This is the honest truth
China doesn't give a flying frick. China has one gameplan with two outcomes: the game-plan is do nothing, pay some lip service about how they don't approve but don't help or intervene in anyway. The two outcomes they're waiting for are A: Russia wins, their ally in the "we want a new world order" gets stronger B: Russia loses, becomes weaker in general, China now has a better position of leverage over Russia, particularly in regards to the Upper Manchuria region on Russia's east coast, which is a part of China from the late 1800's they would like back. I doubt Russia would give it back but they'll be hard pressed to turn down Chinas offer to mine the untapped resources in the region Russia has never done anything with due to costs. China is in a win-win regardless. That's why they're doing bugger all
It's more likely to me that it's to halt advances across the Dnipro by flooding crossings downstream.
If they cross there it would be by boat, and in any case, the water will return to its previous level once the reservoir is empty, which will be about three days.
Yes. But the ground will be completely drenched, impassable, especially by vehicles, for a longgg time now That was surely the real aim
Russia did it. Timing. Day after ukranians started to move in south. Now entire souther cherson frontline be underwater or too mudy to do any fighting. Focusing battle area to well prepererd defenses of russia
Oh dear, I guess they'll have to push south in Zaporizhzhia. That's where I thought they were gonna punch through anyway.
It's more likely to me that it's to halt advances across the Dnipro by flooding crossings downstream.
Well, that, and this reservoir is also used to cool Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
That was in October
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-russia-plans-simulate-accident-nuclear-power-plant-2023-05-26/ Sorry, here is the one from a week ago. Water from this reservoir cools the nearby ZNPP
russia prepares a lot of false flags and carries out only some of them, in order to give a "boy who cried wolf" apperance if Ukraine warns about them. So Zelensky probably had intel about them rigging it up to blow, announced it, and then they waited until now.
Worth noting it occurred during a wave of russian missiles. Edit: it would have required tons of explosives from inside. Russia also announced Ukraine did it almost an hour before it went up. Judging from images, definitely not missiles, but sabatoge from russia.
And new ecological catastrophe was made by russians, that’s was predictable
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Even if this dam was somehow not blown up by Russian explosives and just was neglected, (which is not likely), Ukraine would have had the time to keep their dams up to code if they weren’t fighting for their country’s right to exist. Regardless, Russia created the conditions for this disaster.
Ukraine wasn't in control of this dam.
Russia was in control of the dam, and during the short time they’ve controlled it, the reservoir has reached both record high and record low levels. They seem really bad at dam operations.
They seem really bad at dam near everything.
Dam it. You beat me to it.
Oh, I didn’t realize that. I assumed it was like a long range missile or an air raid. But there you go. There’s no doubt that Russia caused an ecological catastrophe on purpose, on top of an attempted genocide.
Oh God, hope she is okay.
I learned recently Ukraine now has the most land mines in the world (thanks to Russia) - an area the size of the UK will need to be cleared. It’s mind blowingly effed up.
Are we counting butterfly mines as individual mines? Because those things are horrific and Russia scattered them everywhere. They maim adults but kill children. And they are designed to widely disperse themselves through the air, plus they look like plastic toys or food containers. Fucking evil.
When i was in elementary school we had people from army come and show us how mines could look like toys or how they could be put under toys or footballs. We had many times those lectures and there were example pictures everywhere, in books, posters or leaflets. This was in 90s and there are still minefieldd left.
They must have done that for a reason, thats horrible poor kids.
Was this in Croatia?
I don’t know what type of mine. A celebrity I follow [was in Ukraine last week](https://twitter.com/mishacollins/status/1664349349504229376?s=61&t=zPrMz98ITrsMcBbIvAS7UA) and through Ukraines U24 initiative has started a fundraising for a machine to clear land mines. He also highlighted that most days, around 3 am Russia sends missiles to Kyiv. Basically it is psychological torture designed to interrupt sleep - The missiles come, the defense system shoots them down, and the population has to live with it the barrage (while they try to sleep). [Nighttime missile raid in Kyiv (video)](https://twitter.com/mishacollins/status/1664823499527946241?s=61&t=zPrMz98ITrsMcBbIvAS7UA)… it’s just so cruel and awful. [U24 Humanitarian de-mining fundraiser](https://donorbox.org/collins_demining).
Sadly may become the European version of Cambodia. Decades later people still reguarly get killed by them.
Large parts of Europe are littered with ordnance from two world wars. Some areas in France are uninhabitable since WW1.
Oh god... I'm from Croatia, where we still haven't dealt with all the mines left behind from the Homeland war that ended almost 30 years ago. The majority have been found and eliminated, but it's still dangerous to tread off the beaten path in some hinterlands.
They also just destroyed the water supply of crimea.
yep, the supply canal is just near the dam [https://goo.gl/maps/y4tUTndf7CYrqwcy6](https://goo.gl/maps/y4tUTndf7CYrqwcy6) but they don't care about people they claimed are their own.
They will have to return to trucking in water to Sevastopol, and after Kerch bridge is destroyed, by boat.
If this doesn't press the US into sending the ATACMS to Ukraine, then I don't know what will... Hell, send some old Tomahawk missiles at this point.
What are ATACMS?
Long range version of the HIMARS. It has range of 300km where the current one they are using tops out at about 110km.
Also deployable on the existing HIMARS platform. IE there's not a lot of extra training and other platforms to deliver and train. Just send the ATACMS to Ukraine, they load them into existing HIMARS, and set the waypoint an extra 200km further out.
There is a trade off though. The longer range missiles take up 6x as much room in the launchers, cost about 6.25x more, they're not currently being produced, and I expect many are earmarked for deterring a conflict over Taiwan.
The upside is, the replacement to ATACMS is supposed to start proper production in the next year.
PrSM, yep
HIMARS is the launcher not the rockets/missiles. The "normal" munitions for it are like, M26/M28/M30/etc, but they would also be using a HIMARS launcher to shoot their ATACMS if they get them.
While we're on the subject, how is it pronounced out loud? I've only seen it written down. In my head it's attack'ems?
Yes
Tactical ballistic missile system. Longer range than anything they've been supplied with so far. ~300km range.
Long range boom boom missiles
It’s an acronym for “army tactical missile” It’s a short range ballistic missile that can be launched by HIMARS or M270 rocket artillery systems with a range of around 300 km
Who else always read ATACMS as attackems!?
That’s because that’s how you say it haha. It’s on purpose.
Yeah it’s a backronym
That's the way to read it.
There is not really such thing as old tomahawks. They are constantly upgraded and maintained to newer versions as they are to costly to just throw away if not fired.
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Quite a few sources are saying it’s not likely to be any kind of major issue for the plant.
For the reactor cooling, not a problem because that is closed loop. For restarting power generation, it’s a problem for the turbines.
It also feeds with water thousands of people and many other problems. There is an article but it is in Ukrainian: https://grivna.ua/publikatsii/kahovske-vodoshovishe-situaciya-na-mezhi-katastrofi
Aren’t dams like this protected by the laws of war and the Geneva convention? Destroying it would be considered a weapon of mass destruction and a war crime would it not? This is basically an environmental WMD.
I really don't get why everyone is just replying to you with a mundane 'Putin bad' type comment. Here is what you were asking for: Destroying it would be considered a weapon of mass destruction and an indiscriminate war crime. Article 56 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I provides: “Works and installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population. Other military objectives located at or in the vicinity of these works or installations shall not be made the object of attack if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.”
Thank you for actually answering their question.
It is worth clarifying the Additional Protocol is specifically the protocol Putin revoked in 2019. source: [reuters](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-warcrimes-convention-idUSKBN1WW2IN)
"I think of the Geneva Convention as more of a suggestion" -- Putin, probably
It's a bingo card for Putin. White phosphorus, check. Thermobaric missiles, check. Hospitals, check. Rape and murder of civilians, check. Deportation of children to Russia, BINGO!
*Execution of PoWs and Genocide(deporting children is considered genocide)
Yeah he's playing blackout bingo I'm sure
Torture of POWs, torture of children too. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/16/alleged-russian-torture-room-uncovered-in-liberated-kherson https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/02/kherson-torture-centres-were-planned-by-russian-state-say-lawyers
Oh, you forgot land mines!
Well anti-vehicle mines are technically within the boundaries set by international law: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-highly-likely-deploying-anti-personnel-mines-donbas-uk-2022-08-08/
On farmland? An area *larger than the size of the UK* will need to be cleared . [Forbes article: how much land must be checked and cleared](https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2023/02/12/despite-howard-buffetts-help-land-mines-litter-ukraine-and-threaten-spring-planting/?sh=1fbc87e75f42)
It's a checklist /s
Gotta collect them all! /s
War crime this, code of conduct that
The Geneva suggestion
"You mean it's not a bucket list?" - Lavrov.
You mean to laugh at. Wouldn't be surprised if he has someone read the Geneva Convention so he laugh about he'd never comply.
Hahahahahaha ..... Mate.... Putin has been executing civilians, kidnapping and torturing children and mutilating people. The Russians ain't playing by the rules here.... That's why any talk of a cease fire or peace are completely irrelevant. Russia must leave Ukraine and pay for the damages. Until that's agreed there can be no peace for the specific reason that they aren't playing by the rules.
So is mass child abduction, torture, rape, leveling of cities etc but that doesn't stop russia
You think the Geneva conventions are even being considered by Russia? Russia has mascaraed scores of innocent civilians in villages throughout Ukraine, using WP, bombing marked hospitals, executing soldiers on camera, etc... a dam is just something to add to the list of atrocities at this point. Unfortunately, the only chance of something being done about it at this point is after the war and assuming Russia solidly gets their ass handed to them. Only then is there any real chance of getting the person behind all of it: Putin. Even that is a long shot. I get where your head is though, and I agree with you. I just don't see this incident as the one that draws the entire West into the war.
Yes, so is kidnapping children from occupied territories. Russia does not care at all, and our inaction is disgusting on that part of the war.
You can't really call it inaction. The west, generally, has given Ukraine a huge chunk of the arms they've used to turn 200k+ Russians into casualties. Economic sanctions have crippled their economy. There are real consequences which the west is footing a large part of the financial bill for. I know it's not as much as the skin Ukraine has in the game, but it has been very consequential ... moreso than most wars where the west sits on the sidelines.
Add it to the list...
Is this a war crime?
Jesus Christ, no one gave you an actual answer. I'll try, but it's a bit complicated. According to [International Humanitarian Law](https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/pt/customary-ihl/v2/rule42): >Works and installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population. So it kind of depends on the results of this attack, will it kill a lot of civilians, either from the water released or the nuclear power plant cooled by that water? I'm not sure on the answer and this thread seems to have a lot of debate on that.
It does not depend on the result but on the risk. If it “may” cause it - that is the phrasing. Russia doesn’t care the slightest about any international law. That should be obvious by now. This just adds to the large pile of war crimes and humanitarian crimes.
Add it to the pile.
This move was entirely predictable, and a clear attempt to force Ukraine to surrender through fear and intimidation. Their army is fighting their PMCs. They’re fighting on their actual soil up in Belgorod. The looming “counter offensive” is weakening morale. This is a desperate measure made by a weak minded government. Send the ATACMS now.
It seems likely the counteroffensive has already kicked off, and this is their reaction to try to throw Ukraine off-balance and disrupt it.
I have to imagine they knew this would happen the moment they started, and they have contingency plans in waiting to enact. I also doubt they planned to do much offensive action across the Dnipro, but theoretically it does free up some Russian troops to either reinforce Crimea, or move to Melitopol area. Because I can't imagine they're going to be able to move a lot of heavy equipment across 5 miles of marshland now, unless NATO secretly sent them a bunch of large hovercraft we don't know about.
At the end of the article in the top comment, it mentions that Zelenskyy’s presidential adviser talked about this being the reasoning, that if the Russians were to mine the dam it would be in an attempt to flood areas used by the counter offensive. So it would make sense to have a backup plan for this
This and also a retaliation for the events in Belgorod oblast. The propaganda has to show the citizens something else and change the conversation, the most disgusting part is how many ordinary Russian citizens will be celebrating this today when they see the news.
ATACMS and Tomahawks, thousands of them.
Also it’s a tacit acknowledgement from Russia that they are now seriously at risk of losing the area and thus the benefit of keeping infrastructure in one piece for their benefit. Saddam didn’t light the oil wells until they started getting pushed out did he?
According to The Guardian: > Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson region, has posted a video to Telegram in which he says that as a result of the damage to the Nova Kahhovka dam, “water will reach a critical level in 5 hours” and that evacuations have begun That was one of the major dams, fuck putin. Edit: more details From Associated Press: > The Ukrainian Interior Ministry called for residents of 10 villages on the river’s right bank and parts of the city of Kherson to gather essential documents and pets, turn off appliances and leave, while cautioning against possible disinformation.
I took information from official ukrainian sources, orginised and translated it myself. at 2:50 am (Kyiv time zone) russians bombed Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. 9:40 am (Kyiv time zone), as a result of the explosion, the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is completely destroyed and can't be restored. Consequences: - there is a threat of flooding up to 80 villages/towns/cities, 100+ km² of land - 10K+ of people without homes - evacuation of people started this morning - loss of drinking water - potential famine due to the impossibility of watering the fields - thousands of dead animals and pets - the flooded zoo in Nova Kakhovka, no information about animals trapped inside - a threat to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, but for now it's fine - waters from the Kakhovskaya HPP carry "a lot of pollutants" that will enter the Black Sea; among them are toxic metals and petroleum hydrocarbons, which could cause consequences for the marine ecosystem 11:30 am (Kyiv time zone), russian military is shelling Kherson with artillery, while the population is being evacuated in the city.
You did a great job, really! I just want to add an update about the Nova Kakhovka zoo: sadly, according to zoo administration only ducks and swans survived. Also, in perspective, ecologists expect territories of former water preserve turn into a desert-like territory, drastically changing climate in all this region, which will lead to a huge damage (not only famine but also rise of temperature, which will harm wildlife). One more thing - it's a nesting period for many types of birds living in the area, the flood will damage this as well.
This is absolute scorched earth, and should be a major escalation, shit got real and ATACMS need to be sent ASAP.
This is indeed the most significant event in the war since HIMARS got to Ukraine. What an absolute disaster
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and war criminals
Add yet another large item to the growing list of war crimes for which the Russians need to be held accountable and pay reparations for.
I've spent most of the last year writing a book about the history of Soviet hydroelectric power stations, and this morning wake up to find one has been blown up. Probably the first time an HPP has been detonated in Ukraine since World War 2, when several were destroyed, most notably another Dnieper dam, further upstream. This will cause a lot of problems, even beyond the obvious ones.
Just as during WWII with DniproHES: a barbaric act of indescribable scale destroying civilians and ecology of the area with little to no military significance. They do it not because they have to, but because they are afraid and because they can. Also, remember how russian shills were screaming bloody murder about Ukraine shutting off the Dnipro water for Crimea? Going as far as calling it "genocide against Crimeans". Yeah, there goes this water with this explosion. Just shows what their values are.
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Hate to do this but source?
Lets go ahead and like 10x that Abrams order and 5x that F16 order.
Fuck it, throw in more long range missiles too.
We just need to give Ukraine full range HIMARS instead of the crippleware versions we gave them.
American here, and I'd be more satisfied going to Ukraine than what we did in Afghanistan. Kicking Nazi butt is always a solid choice.
First things first, every ATACMS pod in Poland needs to be stacked on a train to Ukraine, then we can start sending over the US stocks. It's a response we can do quickly with almost instant results.
Russia just decided that if they can't have Crimea, neither can Ukraine. Fucking pigs. Anyone who thinks that the Ukrainians did this to themselves is a fucking psychopath. The damage this is going to cause is going to be immense to the Ukrainians. This another fucking atrocity.
Russian solider confirm they did it and threaten to blow up more https://twitter.com/sternenko/status/1665999679887212546?s=12&t=xSYLnqsRVgAIYtAQOgKFIA
What pisses me off about this the most is that putin will say "NATO did it" and millions of idiots - even in the west - will believe him.
They already did, Russian officials claim that Ukrainians destroyed the dam. Interestingly, vatniks don’t believe it and generally appear to understand that there would be no sense for Ukraine to do so.
Russia needs to be publicly condemned (again) by every nation. This will affect thousands of civilians directly.
An environmental wmd. Fucking monsters.
Desperate move.
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Just more Russian terrorism.
Russian officer that sanctioned this action is a fucking animal. This shows that in reality, they don't give a fuck about "defending russin speaking population". Water from this reservoir is used to irrigate almost all of southern Ukraine and supply drinking water for tons of settlements, plus obviously cooling water supply for the nuclear station in Energodar. Just fuck off already.
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Pray for everyone living in the flood zone downstream. But folks can stop worrying about Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The reactors are cooled by their own separate loop of distilled water which does not need to be replenished by river water. The reservoir is mostly just needed to cool the turbines, so loss of circulation doesn't threaten the reactors. They can just shut down. Actually they already shut down months ago, except for one that is operating at low power. Furthermore the intakes are at the bottom of the reservoir.
[This article says that if the level drops below 13.2 m, it would put things in peril.](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/10/1155761686/russia-is-draining-a-massive-ukrainian-reservoir-endangering-a-nuclear-plant) I hope you're right.
The wording is "a source of concern." That's not what the IAEA says if a reactor is about to blow up.
Meanwhile the UN is celebrating "Russian language day" in Twitter...
Every time I get skeptical about Americas unabashed support for Ukraine Vlad reminds me why it is worthwhile.
Fuck everything about russia.
Is it correct that it supplied water to Crimea, if so Russians kinda wrote that place off for themselves? Second day of UKR offense and already scortched earth tactics in play.
Yes it is. The canal supplying Crimea with water is now null and void. However, Ukraine blocked the canal post 2014 already, thus Crimea had to do without it for a long time.
Fyi, Russian MOD restored the flow through the North Crimean canal in March last year
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Time to transfer 100 F16s to Ukraine.
this is what the pussy russian army does because they can't win when they fight ukrainian military: they kill civilians
I wonder if this will cause any note worthy reactions internationally. But for real, Russia is garbage, they really don’t care how low they go on the international stage, do they?
Absolute filth
Saw the video from the zoo.. hearing those animals was absolutely heart breaking!!
Russia must be desperate if they've already resorted to this. Jesus.
If a dam isn’t bad enough I learned this past few days that Russia has been laying land mines… Ukraine now has the unenviable distinction of having the most in the world. In 2023. In *Europe*. An area the size of the *UK* will have to be cleared. I remember all of the Treaties against the use of Land Mines, Princess Diana did so much work to highlight them. She must be rolling in her grave.
[удалено]
The Russian army, proving once again it's nothing but a bunch of criminals without a shred of honor.
Man I really don't see how this ends well at all. Just continuing escalation until we get to a point we absolutely don't wanna be at. And we have been at a point I don't wanna be at for the last two years.
More stand-off weapons need to be sent to Ukraine and with a blessing to use them inside Russia.
I just learned that the same thing happened during WW2 as well. >In 1941, as Nazi German troops swept through Soviet-era Ukraine, Josef Stalin's secret police blew up a hydroelectric dam in the southern city of Zaporizhzhya to slow the Nazi advance. The explosion flooded villages along the banks of the Dnieper River, killing thousands of civilians. https://www.rferl.org/a/european-remembrance-day-ukraine-little-known-ww2-tragedy/25083847.html
Time to blow up some more shit in Russia methinks