The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station in Ukraine has sustained significant damage due to a detonation by Russian forces, but is not entirely destroyed, Natalia Humeniuk, speaker of Operational Command South, told RFE/RL.
“Substantial damage to a section of the dam is visible,” she stated, adding, “The scale of destruction is significant, and for this reason, the water level might be high [downstream].”
Humeniuk further mentioned that the damage didn’t result from a missile strike, but from an internal detonation. “Even from the type of damages, the external appearance of the dam itself, it is evident that the explosion took place from the inside.”
Humeniuk suggested that the Russian forces’ aim was to halt the counteroffensive by the Ukrainian forces. “They are trying to increase the water surface area to prevent the Ukrainian defense forces from advancing,” she remarked. However, she didn’t clarify how exactly this could affect the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Humeniuk noted that the “fire position line” of the Russian forces would shift, as the “water will do its job.” What the Ukrainian forces couldn’t achieve in battle, happened due to the miscalculations of Russia, she added.
In essence, this means that the citizens on the west bank of the Dnipro in Kherson Oblast, which suffer from Russian shelling on a daily basis, will have their condition alleviated, as the position of the Russian troops will shift eastward due to flooding.
