In November, 2022, General Surovikin made the shocking decision to withdraw Russian forces from west bank of Kherson Oblast, led by the fear that Ukraine might destroy the Kakhovka dam and create a flood to trap Russian troops on the far shore, away from supplies and reinforcements.
The decision was furiously criticized by some in Russia – but, after the last few days, Surovikin is looking quite prophetic.
The water levels have started to drop around the Hydraulic Plant, but further downstream there is still a chaotic situation, an ecological and humanitarian catastrophe affecting the mostly Russian-speaking citizens of the region.
Watch video: emergency crews throw food and water to woman stuck in her house during the flood.
What is also not subsiding is the controversy surrounding the destruction of the dam, with mostly everyone weighing in the matter.
In the first episode of his new show on Twitter, that garnered over 110 million views, Tucker Carlson commented on one of the hottest topics of the moment.
“The Kakhovka dam was effectively Russian. It was built by the Russian government. It currently sits in Russian-controlled territory. The dam’s reservoir supplies water to Crimea, which has been for the last 240 years home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
[…] So really, once the facts start coming in, it becomes much less of a mystery what might have happened to the dam, and a fair person would conclude that the Ukrainians probably blew it up, just as you would assume they blew up Nord Stream, the Russian natural gas pipeline, last fall.”
No to be outdone, the Globalists favorite poster girl, Greta Thunberg, joined Zelensky on Twitter to lay the blame squarely in Russia’s feet.
Thank you for your position and for upholding the truth @GretaThunberg!🇷🇺 must be held accountable for all its evil against people, life and nature!
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 8, 2023
The reaction on the Russian side was strong, with some officials calling for regime change on the Ukraine.
“Undermining of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam was carried out by Ukraine – Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Patrushev.
According to him, Kiev first made a large-scale discharge of water to the DneproGES, and then struck at the Kakhovskaya HPP.
[…] The Kiev Nazi regime, created by the United States and Britain, needs to be replaced. Ukraine should become a neutral state.”
The Occam’s Razor points unmistakably to the Ukrainian side, since officials have previously revealed having hit the Kakhovka dam repeatedly, and bragged about their plans to destroying it – and the simplest explanation is that the people who vowed to do it, went ahead and did it.
A Washington Post article from late last year has become infamous for displaying the real opinions of the Kiev regime about the sabotage of the Kakhovka HPP.
The resulting flood downstream from the collapsed dam affected the lower Russian-controlled east bank of the Dnieper river much more than the elevated right bank.
The effect upstream, on the emptying reservoir of the HPP, is also advantageous to Ukraine, because it may end up disrupting the ZNPP nuclear plant, the irrigation infrastructure for the agriculture on the new Russian regions of Kherson and Zaporozhie, and – most importantly – the canal that supplies water to Crimea peninsula.
To secure the water flow through the Crimean Canal was one of Russia’s primary motivations for its Special Military Operation.
“If you believe Russia blew the dam, you are essentially saying that they voluntarily trashed one of their primary war aims.”
As far as Russia goes, they control the Hydraulic Power Plant. So they would have easy access to the dam, if they wished to destroy it.
But why would they do so? Russia need not to destroy it, when they can flood the river by opening the dam’s floodgates.
With the dam breached, they have now lost this control.
Last year, when Russian forces retreated from Kherson, they did blow up the passenger/car bridge next to the dam, to keep the enemy from crossing the dam with tanks and heavy equipment.
It is also true that Ukrainian positions inside the islands in the Dnieper river near Kherson will be washed away. Watch as their troops evacuate:
“If Russia wants to cross the Dniper and liberate places like Odessa, this Dam needed to be blown up. [General] Surovikin understood this immediately, that he can’t advance with this dam in his back that can cut his forces from supply for weeks if blown up. So he left the west bank of Kherson when the water was not high yet.
[…] When the Ukrainian counter offensive is destroyed, their reserves chewed up. Wagner is back pushing forward in Donbass as do other Russian units. The Ukrainians are hard pressed and then all of a sudden Russian airborne and marines land in Kershon, back again! The Ukrainians have few reserves to meet them with, their main Ukrainian army is hard pressed in Donbass and they can’t blow up the Dam.”
“The breach has two major benefits for Ukraine. Not only is it washing out Russian defenses and disproportionately disrupting the Russian side of the river, but Russia has now lost the ability to create a flood at the opportune moment later on.”