Russia "Kakhovka Dam in Kherson Damaged by Ukrainian Shelling"... Concerns Over Large-Scale Flooding

Russia suspected of deliberate destruction
Concerns grow over flooding in around 80 nearby villages

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The Russian government has announced that the sluice gate of the Kakhovka Dam in the southern Kherson region was damaged by shelling from Ukrainian forces, raising concerns about a large-scale flood. The Ukrainian side strongly condemned this, claiming that the Russian military is deliberately conducting a flooding operation to slow down the advance of Ukrainian troops.

According to TASS news agency on the 6th (local time), shells fell on the sluice gate of the Kakhovka Dam in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, which is occupied by Russian forces, causing damage to the gate. TASS reported, "Six rocket shells were fired from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) provided by the United States to Ukraine, and among them, one rocket that was not intercepted by the Russian air defense system hit the dam's sluice gate."

The Kakhovka Dam is a multipurpose dam that supplies drinking water and electricity to most of southern Ukraine. It is a critical infrastructure that also supplies most of the drinking water to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia forcibly annexed in 2014, through the North Crimean Canal and the Dnipro-Kryvyi Rih Canal.

The Russian side claims that Ukrainian forces had been preparing to attack the dam. The Russian government, through the puppet government installed in Kherson, has issued evacuation orders for residents throughout Kherson, including the area around the Kakhovka Dam. Russia reported that due to the Ukrainian airstrike, the supply of drinking water and electricity to Kherson city, the capital of Kherson region, and surrounding areas has been cut off.

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated, that on this day, Ukrainian missiles were launched toward several locations including the Kakhovka Dam, and that a total of 18 missiles were intercepted. Igor Konashenkov, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Defense, emphasized, "On this day, air defense units intercepted 8 HIMARS rocket shells, 8 Olkha rockets, 1 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), and 1 Tochka-U ballistic missile launched by the Ukrainian side."

The Ukrainian side has not yet issued an official statement regarding the damage to the dam's sluice gate. However, suspicions have been raised both inside and outside Ukraine that Russia had been preparing for destruction by planting mines and other means to destroy the dam in advance.

Earlier, on the 20th of last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a nationwide video address, stated, "Russian forces have planted mines on the Kakhovka Dam and are preparing a disguised attack," adding, "If the dam, which stores about 18 million cubic meters of water, is blown up, flooding will occur in more than 80 villages, affecting hundreds of thousands of people."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.