DISINFO: Russia retreated from Kherson because Ukraine wanted to blow up the Kakhovka dam
SUMMARY
Last week, Russian troops withdrew from Kherson because of fears that Ukrainian forces would blow up the dam at the nearby Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, causing a flood that could kill soldiers and civilians.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about false flag operations. Such claims are a part of a broader pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign accompanying the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, trying to place the blame on Ukraine.
Ukrainian military intelligence said on the 21st of October that Russia had conducted the main mining works of the dam back in April 2022, but warned that the floodgates and supports of the dam were further primed the previous week. Two military vehicles full of explosives were placed on the road that crosses the dam, the agency added.
The 30 metre-high dam, which holds back 18m cubic metres of water, straddles the Dnipro River upstream from Russian-held Kherson and is about 20 miles from advancing Ukrainian forces hoping to recapture both it and the occupied city.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has accused Russia of plotting to blow up the two-mile Nova Kakhovka dam in the south of the country, warning its destruction would cause “a large-scale disaster” affecting towns and cities.
According to Ukrainian Military Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov Russia will slow Ukrainian troops' advance in the south by two weeks if it blows up the vast Kakhovka dam, but such a move would flood territory occupied by Moscow's forces and lose it a vital water source for annexed Crimea.
Blowing up the dam would also "destroy the possibility of the existence of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant because this facility is inextricably linked to it".
The nuclear plant, Europe's largest, has been occupied by Russian forces for months and is located near the reservoir.
On the 11th of November the Russian retreated from Kherson. Russians had to openly announce their withdrawal as they could not hold the city any longer, as their troops (about 30,000 in that area) could not deter the Ukrainian offensive for a long time. Significant new damage to the major Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine can be seen following Russia's withdrawal from nearby Kherson city, U.S. satellite imagery company Maxar said on Friday 11 November.
Read similar cases claiming that West needs provocations to accuse the Russian military of using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Ukrainian militants are shelling the nuclear station in Zaporizhzhia and that Ukraine wants to blow up the Kakhovka dam to block water supply to Crimea.