The Russian-Ukrainian war has been going on for a year, and the two sides have been fighting back and forth before, but the situation has suddenly begun to escalate recently. On June 5, the Ukrainian army launched hundreds of attacks on the positions of the Russian army on the entire front, and the outside world speculated that this was a test before the Ukrainian army's great counteroffensive.
With the support of Western weapons and equipment, it is only a matter of time before the Ukrainian army launches another big counteroffensive. Recently, the United States announced the supply of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of F16 fighters to Ukraine, which are reported to carry nuclear missiles and have strong attack capabilities.
With the escalation of the war and the increase of Western aid, the Russian-Ukrainian war is developing in an increasingly uncontrollable direction, and even a nuclear crisis has appeared. If the two sides do not find a solution to the problem as soon as possible, the situation may continue to deteriorate or even turn into a full-scale war. This is a huge threat to Russia, Ukraine and the entire international community.
As Ukrainian drones attacked the Kremlin, Russia itself began to slowly be shrouded in war smog, and in retaliation, Russia began to use drones and artillery shells to attack the city of Kiev. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has entered a new stage, and some targets that were previously not allowed to be attacked have become bombing targets, and the danger has gradually increased.
Unfortunately, the most worrying thing happened to the outside world. Leontyev, mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Russian-controlled area of Kherson region, confirmed on the 6th that at 2 a.m. local time, the upper part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power dam was blown up. The current flood is pouring down, causing the water level downstream to rise sharply. Leontiev said that the city of Novokakhovka has been flooded, the water level near the Dnieper River has risen to 12 meters, and Russia and Ukraine have begun to evacuate the victims in their own control areas.
The United Nations explicitly prohibits attacks on civilian installations such as dams, which is a natural disservice. After the incident, the Ukrainian side immediately stood up and accused the Russian army of doing it, the purpose of which was to prevent the Ukrainian army's cross-river military operation. The Russian side immediately refuted the Ukrainian remarks and accused the Ukrainian army of wanting to cut off the water supply in Crimea by destroying the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam.
At present, there are different opinions about who deliberately attacked the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. It is worth analysing who will have the greatest impact and who will ultimately benefit from this attack.
The situation now is that after one end of the dam was blown up, floodwaters began to spread downstream, including the port city of Kherson. At present, Russia and Ukraine use the Dnieper River to divide Kherson Oblast into two parts: Russian-controlled and Ukrainian-controlled areas. As a result of the dam destruction, 22,000 people in Russian-controlled areas were threatened by flooding, while 16,000 people in Ukraine-controlled areas were threatened.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ukrainian side has evacuated hundreds of residents from the west bank of the Dnieper for the first time, without causing any civilian casualties. At the same time, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy also claimed that the destruction of the dam would not pose a threat to Ukraine's national energy supply system.
Seeing this, you don't know if you have a clue? The bombing of such a large hydropower station, resulting in flooding, according to the Ukrainian side, did not have much impact on itself.
So, let's look at the impact on the Russian side, the most direct impact is the direct threat to the water supply of 2 million people in Crimea. If it is really Russia who wrote and directed itself to blow up the dam, then it is really chilling. Crimea has already been publicly annexed to Russia, and Russia has already included it in its territory, and I really can't think of a reason for Russia to self-destruct the Great Wall in this way.
Some people may point out that the Russian army blew up the dam in order to prevent the Ukrainian army from carrying out cross-river operations, hoping to slow down the offensive of the Ukrainian army through flooding.
However, Western observers have pointed out that the Ukrainian army's counteroffensive across the river is itself "extremely challenging", while it is more common sense for the Ukrainian army to launch a counteroffensive from other regions. That is to say, the Russian army does not need to blow up the hydropower station for the sake of this so-called counteroffensive that has not yet been brushed off. At the same time, even if the Russian army wants to use floods to stop the Ukrainian army from attacking, then the Russian army can completely release water normally to make the river rise, why use this worst move, but also take the safety of 2 million people in Crimea as a bet?
Objectively speaking, there is no reason for the Ukrainian side to self-destruct family property. Ukraine has always aimed to take back Crimea, and if it destroys the dam itself, the truth will one day be made public. Even if Ukraine can finally take back Crimea, I am afraid it will lose popular support.
Overall, the impact of dam damage is much worse in Russia than in Ukraine. And the truth of the matter will not surface in a short time, just like the previous bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline, it has become an unsolved mystery. However, with this beginning, it is like opening a Pandora's box, and more livelihood facilities may be destroyed in the future.
The Zaporizhzhya NPP has been relying on the dam reservoir for water to cool the reactor. Currently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is closely monitoring the situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine. However, the plant has a large cooling pond and the amount of water stored is temporarily unaffected. But if the Kakhovka hydropower plant is completely destroyed, the consequences will be unimaginable. At present, both Russia and Ukraine have issued warnings that the flow of fuel from mechanical systems into the river after the dam is destroyed is seriously harmful. According to the Office of the President of Ukraine, 150 tons of fuel from the dam's mechanical system have leaked into the river, and another 300 tons of fuel are also at risk of leakage.
Although the IAEA currently considers that there is no immediate threat to the safety of nuclear power plants, the accident still raises concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants have long been considered a clean source of energy, however, the impact of a nuclear power plant accident can be catastrophic. A case in point is the Chernobyl nuclear accident, which caused a large number of casualties, had a huge impact on the environment and ecology, and had a profound impact on the development of nuclear energy worldwide.
Safety measures are therefore essential for the operation of nuclear power plants. And this attack has threatened the safety of nuclear power plants, which is a bad start.