russians planned to blow up Kherson's Kakhovka dam back in April – Ukraine's intelligence
According to Ukraine's intelligence, the russian occupiers had planned ahead of time to blow up the dam of the Kakhovka Reservoir, the hydraulic unit of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), so they mined it back in April.
The press service of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence reports:
"The dam detonation was planned. The russians carried out primary demining work back in April. During the current week, they additionally mine the locks and pillar of the Kakhovka HPP."
It is reported that two military-tented Kamaz trucks without drivers are installed on the dam. Both cars are fully loaded with boxes of explosives.
Today, it was also reported that the former Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Linas Linkevičius, believes that russia should allow international observers to visit the Kakhovka HPP to dispel accusations of an intention to blow it up.
The diplomat wrote about this on Twitter: "In order to dispel accusations about mining of dam in #Kherson region, #Russia must allow international observers. An explosion would cause a humanitarian catastrophe, and full responsibility would fall solely on Russia."
Reference
On October 20, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated in an address to the European Council that the russians had mined the dam and units of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and planned to carry out a terrorist attack under a foreign flag.
"russia is deliberately creating the basis for a large-scale disaster in the south of Ukraine. We have information that russian terrorists have mined the dam and units of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. This is one of the extensive energy facilities. The dam of this hydroelectric power station holds about 18 million cubic meters of water. If russian terrorists blow up this dam, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be in the zone of rapid flooding, and hundreds of thousands of people may be affected.
The water supply of a large part of Ukraine's south may be destroyed. This russian terrorist attack could leave the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant without water for cooling; water for the ZNPP is taken from the Kakhovka Reservoir. Even the operation of the canal, which was built to supply water to Crimea and which Moscow is allegedly worried about, will be destroyed entirely. This is the genuine attitude of russia towards our Ukrainian Crimea. And in general, the devastating environmental, humanitarian, man-made consequences of this single russian terrorist attack may become such that it will be called a historic catastrophe," Zelensky said.
The adviser to the head of the Office of the President, Mykhailo Podoliak, also reported this on Twitter.
"A real "Surovikin plan" for Kakhovskaya HPP:
- To mine the dam and transformers
- Ukrainians forced deportation and disloyal population resettlement to RF
- Flooding territory to stop 🇺🇦 counteroffensive and block their retreat
Russia is preparing a man-made catastrophe," Podoliak emphasized.
Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, informed Ukraine is working to convey a clear signal to russia that even preparing to blow up the Kakhovka HPP entails responsibility.
On October 20, the American Institute for the Study of War also reported that the russians were creating an information field for a false flag attack on the Kakhovka HPP to justify or cover up their retreat in the Kherson region.
It was previously reported that the russian occupiers were moving military equipment and personnel from the right to the left bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region amid the recent rapid successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the de-occupation of the area.
