The Russian military mined the dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP. Probably preparing to blow it up. We tell you where the HPP is located and what consequences it will have.
Channel 24 collected everything that is known about possible scenarios of Russian provocation at the Kakhovskaya HPP. The National Security and Defense Council noted that Ukraine is ready for all scenarios.
Where is Kakhovskaya HPP located
Kakhivska HPP is the last step of the Dnieper cascade of hydroelectric power plants. Located in the south of Ukraine, 5 kilometers from the city of Novaya Kakhovka, Kherson region.
The hydroelectric power plant provides annual regulation of the Dnieper flow to supply electricity, irrigation and water supply to arid regions of southern Ukraine and navigation from Kherson to Zaporozhye.
Kakhovskaya HPP is one of the large power facilities, the dam of which contains a volume of about 18 million cubic meters of water.
Where is Kakhovskaya HPP located on the map:
The Kakhovskaya HPP was built in the 1950s. The dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station is strategically important not only because of its energy capacities, but also because it connects the right and left banks of the Dnieper (road and railway bridge crossings over the dam).
It is near Novaya Kakhovka, in the town of Tavriysk, the North Crimean Canal originates – an irrigation facility, which by 2014 provided about 85% of Crimea's needs in fresh water.
Recall that after Russia annexed Crimea, Ukraine blocked this channel. Therefore, in the first days of a full-scale invasion in February 2022, the invaders seized the Kakhovskaya HPP and the beginning of the North Crimean Canal.
What consequences will the explosion of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam have?
The consequences of a dam explosion can be catastrophic. We are talking about the flooding of the surrounding villages and even Kherson down the Dnieper, problems with cooling the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and water supply to the south of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba compared this to weapons of mass destruction. Like, the consequences will still be serious.
In the event of an accident at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, all cities and villages below the dam will either be flooded or completely flooded.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be in the zone of rapid flooding, and hundreds of thousands people may suffer.
He stressed that the undermining of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station would lead to a catastrophe with a huge number of casualties, but this would also interfere with the invaders themselves – in particular, in Crimea.
Bridge damaged
Back on August 8, the bridge on the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station was disabled by a HIMARS pinpoint strike, the invaders still cannot use it to move military equipment (a hole with a diameter of three meters has formed in the bridge). But it is not easy to disable the dam itself.
The length of the dam, on which 28 weir gates are installed, is 447 meters.
Pay attention!Zelensky is convinced that if Russia is preparing a terrorist attack at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station and is seriously considering such a scenario, then this means that the terrorists are very clearly aware that they cannot hold not only Kherson, but the entire South of our country, including Crimea.
Evidence of Russian preparations for a terrorist attack
An additional sign of Russia's preparations for a possible terrorist attack at the Kakhovskaya HPP is the activity on the information front of Russian propaganda.
At the same time, in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine believe that the occupiers leave the possibility of undermining the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station “as a last resort” – in particular, if the defense of the Kherson region collapses.
Mining is a known fact, they do this all the time when they retreat to make it harder for our troops to advance. The Russians know that we will oppress them to the very border, – noted in the “South” command.
Most Ukrainian and Western analysts agree with the data of Ukrainian officials and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine about the likely preparation of a terrorist attack by the Russian Federation at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station.< /p>
Yes, ISW is also following this topic – analysts believe that Russia is “creating an information basis for an attack on the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station” in the form of a false flag operation.
The Institute also pays attention to the fact that Russian propaganda began to actively spread the topic of the alleged threat to the Kakhovka dam by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which may also indicate the preparation of provocations.
