Editorial: Russia responsible for Kakhovka dam collapse

A local resident walks along a flooded street in Kherson, Ukraine, on Wednesday after the wall of a major dam collapsed, triggering floods and threatening drinking water supplies. Photo / AP

Editorial

EDITORIAL

In a momentous week for the Ukraine war, the callousness inflicted on ordinary people trying to get through it came to the foreground.

Residents along the front line in southern Ukraine were braced for the start of Kyiv’s counter-offensive when a different explosive event took place, with the Kakhovka dam collapsing.

Whether it was by design or from disrepair is not totally certain. A wall of water flowed into lands on either side of the Dnipro River, flooding the homes of tens of thousands.

Rescues of residents and animals were carried out in Ukrainian-controlled areas, and bottled water was rushed in, but the full scale of the long-term damage in a region that’s home to at least 60,000 people is unclear.

It’s already a humanitarian and ecological disaster, and would have forced a rethink of Ukrainian military plans.

It’s known that many people no longer have homes or drinking water. Farm animals have died, and crops have been destroyed. Landmines and toxic chemicals are floating in the water. Power shortages seem certain.

Houses are seen underwater in the flooded village of Dnipryany, in Russian-occupied Ukraine after the collapse of Kakhovka Dam. Photo / AP

This is on top of Russia’s deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilians, residential buildings, schools, hospitals, power stations and other infrastructure, and grain exports during the war.

Experts have said an internal explosion was the most likely cause of the collapse and Russia was in control of the part of the dam where and when it occurred. Considering the devastating impact of it on people, Kyiv’s military plans, and agricultural land, Ukrainian involvement is far less likely than Russia’s.

Despite attempts by President Vladimir Putin to blame Kyiv for the disaster, the incident fits a pattern of terror and misery directed by Moscow at Ukrainians trying to survive the Kremlin’s unjustifiable aggression.

An overview of the damaged Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine. Photo / Maxar Technologies via AP

For instance, yesterday Russian missile fire rained down on Ukrainian flood evacuation spots in Kherson.

The dam collapse also seems to be about drastically raising the war’s costs for Ukraine and its Western backers - with all the rebuilding in the country that will be required for years to come. Before the dam disaster, the World Bank had assessed that Ukraine would need US$411 billion ($674.8b) to revive its economy.

Putin may be in reality preparing to eventually pull back - but he wants generations of pain left behind as a twisted legacy.

The Soviet-era dam and reservoir are in the Kherson region that Moscow has mostly occupied for the past year. Ukraine holds the west bank and Russia the east. The region’s governor says 600sq km is under water, with 32 per cent of flooding on the Ukrainian-held side and 68 per cent on the Russian-occupied bank.

In US defence analyst Michael Kofman’s view: “Russia is responsible, either by virtue of action or by virtue of the fact that it controlled the dam.” He doesn’t believe it will have a significant impact on Ukraine’s military operations, tweeting “the Khakovka dam is at least [160km] from where much of the activity might take place at its closest point”.

The Institute for the Study of War speculates that Russia has “a greater and clearer interest in flooding the lower Dnipro”. The think tank says the dam’s collapse could cover a military retreat and hold up the counter-offensive.

During World War II, Stalin had the Dnipro dam blown up in 1941 to slow the German advance.

The flooding would appear to prevent tanks being sent to Russian-occupied Crimea for some time.

There have been reports that the military operation to retake territory with heavy Western tanks is now under way, with Ukrainian offensive pushes in at least three areas.

They include Zaporizhzhia, where the nuclear power plant faces the loss of cooling water from the reservoir. Needless to say, it’s essential that Ukraine regains control of that area.

When Putin has lashed out before, he has succeeded in pushing Western countries toward giving Ukraine more military support.

Talks on supplies of fighter jets to Ukraine are ongoing. Next month’s Nato summit will also likely include discussion on Ukraine’s future with the alliance.