Critical Ukrainian dam near Kherson destroyed sparking region-wide evacuations

[regnaD kciN]

Source: CNN



A major dam in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine was destroyed early Tuesday, prompting evacuations and fears for large-scale devastation as Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for committing what they both described as a terrorist act.

Residents downstream from the Nova Kakhova dam on the Dnipro River in Kherson were told to “do everything you can to save your life,” according to the head of Ukraine’s Kherson region military administration, as video showed a deluge of water gushing from a huge breach in the dam.

Drone video, posted to social media and geolocated by CNN, showed the destroyed dam wall and fast-moving torrents of water flowing out into the river.

The critical Nova Kakhova dam spans the Dnipro River, a major waterway running through southeastern Ukraine and there are multiple town and cities downstream, including Kherson, a city of some 300,000 people before the war.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/06/europe/ukraine-nova-kakhovka-dam-breach-intl-hnk/index.html

---

This is very bad, as this may both flood Kherson and cut off cooling water to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

Of course, Russia is blaming Ukraine, despite video evidence of Russian troops planting explosives on the dam last autumn.

[Liberty Belle]

1. If lack of water damages the nuclear reactors, would that trigger a NATO response?

Nuclear contamination would affect much of Europe and beyond.

I hope the Ukrainians can find a way to get water onto the six nuclear reactors at this site, the largest nuclear facility in Europe.

Damn the Russians to hell for this and all the other misery they have inflicted.

[electric_blue68]

2. Yikes. Send help, folks!

[James48]

3. It's a major major disaster.

I saw the video on Telegram.

The dam break is huge, and a ton of water is flowing. This is going to be horrendous, and is a war crime. Ukraine says it is caused by the Russians. If that is true- it’s a major war crime.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Ukraine has nothing to gain and everything to lose from this; it's a Russian war crime

No amount of false-flag-generated propaganda would ever compensate for this amount of destruction and probable death and injury.

[womanofthehills]

16. NYTs this morning- "Unclear who caused the damage"

“Ukraine Dam Disaster: What We Know
A dam in southern Ukraine was split in half, but it is unclear who caused the damage. Thousands are being evacuated as dangerous volumes of water gush downstream.”

“The dam is near the front line of the war.

Videos of the dam, in the town of Nova Kakhovka, reviewed by The New York Times do not reveal what caused the destruction. But they do show a significant amount of water flowing freely through the dam, indicating the severe damage.

Located near the front line of the war in the southern Kherson region, the barrier and nearby infrastructure have been damaged throughout the war. Last year, Russian forces took control of the dam and a nearby hydroelectric plant. Satellite imagery showed new damage to a bridge next to the dam days before Tuesday’s destruction.

Ukraine’s hydropower company, Ukrhydroenergo, said an explosion inside the engine room caused the destruction, which was under Russian control at the time. The power plant, it said, “cannot be restored.”https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/06/world/europe/ukraine-dam-explainer.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

[niyad]

20. WTAF???? I was about to ask, what is WRONG with nyt, but that answered

my question.

[regnaD kciN]

25. "I love the smell of bothsidesism in the morning." -- Pootie-Poot

[NJCher]

7. Here's what Reuters is saying

Ukraine's military intelligence agency said on Telegram that Russian forces had blown up the dam "in a panic", in what it said was "an obvious act of terrorism and a war crime, which will be evidence in an international tribunal".

——-

This is Putin backed into a corner, desperate.

[2naSalit]

9. +1

[progree]

4. The nuclear power plant cooling situation

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217973644#post36

All six nuclear reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Plant are shut down but still require water to dissipate heat from the radioactive fuel remaining in the reactor cores, Ivan Plachkov, a former minister of energy of Ukraine, said in an interview. The cooling systems can operate for some time on a closed loop, circulating water within the station rather than drawing cooling water from the reservoir, he said.

Still, Plachkov said, a complete loss of cooling water would not be safe for the plant: "It is a very dangerous situation.”

...

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it was “closely monitoring” the situation surrounding the dam but that there was “no immediate nuclear safety risk” at the nearby Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The plant draws the water needed for cooling from the reservoir above the dam.

Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, said the destruction of the dam “may have negative consequences” for the plant but that it now had sufficient water in a pond for cooling. ...

As for the source, its some New York Times story, but it doesn't supply the link

[James48]

14. I'm very, very concerned about this-

I was stationed in Germany in the 1980’s when Chernobyl happened. That was a horrible disaster for millions of people.

This has the potential to be even worse- if they lose the water cooling, and have a runaway nuclear pile. It won’t be just one, it would eventually destroy all of the reactors, and potentially contaminate worse than Chernobyl.

Pray this war ends soon.

[James48]

15. I'm very, very concerned about this-

I was stationed in Germany in the 1980’s when Chernobyl happened. That was a horrible disaster for millions of people.

This has the potential to be even worse- if they lose the water cooling, and have a runaway nuclear pile. It won’t be just one, it would eventually destroy all of the reactors, and potentially contaminate worse than Chernobyl.

Pray this war ends soon.

[Duppers]

19. Thx for this info.

👍

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. I don't use "evil" lightly and hardly ever, but Putin is evil through and through. . . nt

[2naSalit]

10. Also needs to be evicted from the planet...

This is proof, as if up to now there has been no proof.

[oldsoftie]

8. Russia of course is the likely culprit. Flood the Dnipro to thwart a crossing

A lot harder for troops & equipment to cross a flooded river.

[Botany]

11. And that water is used to irrigate the farmlands in Crimea too.

It is time to grind every Russian in Ukraine into the ground.

[mitch96]

12. Nasty business.. Update from Kyiv Besides the eco disaster there is the power plant...uff

I thinking the Kerch/Crimea bridge is now a target. That would strand thousands of ruzzian orcs with no where to go and no or little supplies...
m

https://www.kyivpost.com

https://kyivindependent.com

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Ukraine dam: Swans seen swimming through Nova Kakhovka

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-65818722

Video at link. The water looks about 2 or 3 feet up the doorway of a building that probably has steps.

Nova Kakhovka is the southern bank of the dam:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Nova+Kakhovka,+Kherson+Oblast,+Ukraine,+74900/@46.7506939,33.3200908,13z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x40c38ffaf953e55b:0xe7dd49fae35d59f8!8m2!3d46.7515251!4d33.3678207!16zL20vMDM1eGgz?entry=ttu

[IronLionZion]

17. Scorched earth

This is like Saddam setting Kuwait's oil wells on fire. Just plain evil

[bluestarone]

18. My way of thinking is RUSSIA KNOWS it's losing the battle, so

They will completely DESTROY Ukraine! They will stop at nothing. Russia needs to pay a BIG price for this!

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Water 11 metres higher downstream of dam, 2.5 m lower upstream (Russian source)

The Russian-installed governor of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region says the water level has risen to more than 11m (36ft) in the city of Nova Kakhovka - in the immediate vicinity of the breached dam, according to Russia's state-owned news agency Tass.
...
He added the water level near the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has dropped by 2.5m - and is expected to fall by up to 7m.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has said a lack of cooling water at the nuclear plant - which lies about 100 miles (160km) upstream from Kakhovka dam - could disrupt its emergency diesel generators.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-65816109?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=647f1ee337572a107394d130%26Water%20level%20rises%20to%20more%20than%2011m%20in%20Nova%20Kakhovka%20-%20Russian%20official%262023-06-06T12%3A22%3A57.757Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:42cba411-5440-4b94-b3a6-b695a935953c&pinned_post_asset_id=647f1ee337572a107394d130&pinned_post_type=share

Floating building near Kherson:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-65816109?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=647f3ed537572a107394d173%26WATCH%3A%20Building%20seen%20floating%20along%20Dnipro%20river%262023-06-06T14%3A24%3A35.187Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:%395ae4b2e-c580-4950-b07c-113222be8ccc&pinned_post_asset_id=647f3ed537572a107394d173&pinned_post_type=share

Urban beaver!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-65816109?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=647f416637572a107394d175%26WATCH%3A%20Beaver%20wanders%20flooded%20streets%20in%20Kherson%262023-06-06T15%3A19%3A11.173Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:a6ca5c45-c4f6-434d-b551-c83779422099&pinned_post_asset_id=647f416637572a107394d175&pinned_post_type=share

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. It's almost as if the Russians planned this: reservoir had just reached a 30 year high

Last month, it was reported that water levels in the reservoir had reached a 30-year high as the Russian occupiers had kept relatively few sluice gates open.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/06/visual-guide-collapse-ukraine-nova-kakhovka-dam

(Graph, from US Dept of Agriculture data, at that link, but not copiable)

May 17 New York Times:

Russian-Controlled Dam Risks Flooding in Southern Ukraine

Water levels at a reservoir that supplies southern Ukraine with drinking water have reached a 30-year high, increasing the possibility of flooding in the area and signaling a lack of regulation. The sudden increase in levels at the Kakhovka reservoir appears in altimetry data — which uses satellites to measure height — published on Friday by Theia, a French earth data provider.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service has not recorded water levels that high at the dam since at least 1992, when the service began publishing data. Russian forces control the dam and the nearby power plant, which are vital to managing water levels in the reservoir.

A New York Times analysis of satellite imagery over a period of several months also showed that the water level has risen significantly, and now covers sandbars that line the waterway. In recent days, the reservoir has reached more concerning levels, appearing to actually crest over the top of the dam.

The development is a dramatic turnabout, coming only a few months after water levels in the reservoir had reached a historic low. At the time, Ukrainian officials raised concerns about a lack of water for drinking, agriculture and the cooling of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant nearby. By the end of February, the water level was sitting at nearly two meters below its usual average.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/world/europe/dam-flood-ukraine-kakhovka.html

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

23. It takes an awful lot of explosives to take out a dam

The photos show the destruction as pretty thorough. You need a lot more than 155 mm shells to cause that.

[royable]

26. All it takes is one gap in the dam, and then the force of the water pouring through destroys more.

I watched the two-minute video taken by a drone flying over the dam. You could clearly see the water breaking off additional segments.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

27. Which a 155 mm shell is not going cause.

During WWII the British used a 9,000 lb bomb to take German dams. Ukraine has nothing that comes close.

The charge had to be planted and the Russians had control of the dam. I think the intent was to cover their retreat.

[royable]

28. Agreed, totally.

My point was just that the explosives didn't need to have taken out the whole width of the gap seen in the video. (And, as the video showed, the water pouring through the gap was actively widening it.) The explosives can cause the initial breach, however wide, and then the water takes out even more of the dam.

[blue-wave]

24. Damn Putin!!

If the reactors at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant melt down, this will be the largest nuclear disaster ever. And it was all because of one mad man in the Kremlin. Let that sink in....one person is the reason for this.

The U.S. and the rest of the U.N. security council, with the exception of Russia, needs to step in now. Send U.N. troops to secure the dam and the power plant. All Russian troops must vacate the area. Let Putin know in no uncertain terms that this will happen and no other bullshit from him will be tolerated.

And oh, not a millisecond more of hesitation sending any weapons to Ukraine.