mbow30
Spudmeister Supreme
Holy crap what an idiot
It is not only the warnings since October 2022 that Russia might destroy the Kakhovka Dam, and, more recently, that the invaders were overfilling the dam, that cast doubts over Russia’s attempts to blame Ukraine for the catastrophic disaster now unfolding in Kherson oblast. Russia is also either building or destroying dams in occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia oblast, with its aim clearly to flood the territory and thus impede the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ anticipated counter-offensive.
The Centre for Journalist Investigations [CJI], citing local residents, reported on 7 June that the Russian invaders are either destroying dams on reservoirs or erecting them to ensure that the water overflows and floods roads and fields. It is assumed that the aim is to create bog-like conditions in the hope that this will prevent the advance of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
CJI’s contacts have sent photos from the outskirts of occupied Tokmak, where, on the exit in the direction of Berdiansk (also under occupation), the Russians have erected a dam near the bridge over the Tokmachka River. The dam has resulted in a significant increase in the water level, with the shores overflowing.
my fear is that their next act is going to be nuclear sabotage... (i.e. Zaporizhzhia NPP)It’s like they’ll do EVERYTHING BUT nuke the Ukes
Several hundred tonnes of lubricant and fuel oil were washed into the Dnipro river from the collapse of the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant, as well as landmines unearthed by the torrent. The flood also polluted groundwater sources, officials said, worsening a shortage of drinking water for local populations. The reservoir provided drinking water for the cities of Kherson and Krivyi Rih as well as the Crimean peninsula via a 400km canal.
The health ministry said a “plague” of rotting fish carcasses, effluent from latrines and contamination from cemeteries poised a serious risk of disease and instructed local residents not to consume water drawn from wells and ground pumps, as is still common in rural Ukraine.
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The lake held back by the dam covered 2,155 square kilometres before the barrier was breached, and contained 18 cubic kilometres of water. It provided irrigation for 584,000 hectares of arable land in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which produced 4mn tonnes of grain and oilseed crops in 2021. With the reservoir drained, Kherson, an arid region in the far south, has lost 94 per cent of its irrigation, Zaporizhzhia 74 per cent, and Dnipropetrovsk 30 per cent.
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Denys Marchuk, the deputy chair of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council, a trade association, told Ukrainian television the dam’s destruction could cost the country up to 14 per cent of its grain exports. A third of the country’s beets, onions, cabbage and carrots — ingredients for the national dish of borschch — are produced in the region, he added.
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The disappearance of the dam has also ended the navigability of the Dnipro between the city of Zaporizhzhia and the Black Sea, a cheap form of transport for crops and industrial goods. The Kakhovka reservoir was also a vital source of water for heavy industry, including big steel and metallurgy plants in Nikopol and Krivyi Rih.
The agricultural ministry said 95,000 tonnes of fish could be lost. A video shared online by Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, showed thousands of fish flopping around on a dry riverbed on the banks of Maryanske village, Dnipropetrovsk region, 90km upstream from the destroyed dam.
yeah they seem to very much know what they're doing. for now, we wait.Seems like the Ukes are taking out mobile communications infrastructure.
Russia starting to play dirty in their desperation
yeah they seem to very much know what they're doing. for now, we wait.
But shelling the civilians evacuating on the one side while not allowing the civilians on the other side to get out is nazi level shit. They're just trying to cause pain until it breaks Ukraines will.