June, 7, 2023

1. Destruction of the Kakhovka HPP is a “barbaric act”

On June 7 Russian President Vladimir Putin told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a telephone conversation that Ukraine escalated the situation, using terrorist methods and organizing acts of sabotage in Russia. Putin outlined that Kiev was dangerously escalating the situation at the instigation of the West, by using terrorist methods, and organizing acts of sabotage in Russia.

2. Major results of the KHPP damage by Kiev

As it has been reported, on June 6, the Ukrainian military delivered a strike on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), presumably from the U.S. HIMARS MLRS. The shelling destroyed the hydraulic valves at the dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharged of water. In Novaya Kakhovka, the city located downstream near the station, the water level exceeded 12 meters at one point. More than 80 percent of the city has been flooded by June 7. There are currently 15 settlements in the flooded area, and a total of about 80 villages may be inundated. The collapse of the plant's dam has caused serious environmental damage. Farmlands along the Dnieper River have been washed away, and there is a risk that the North Crimean Canal will become shallow.

Some 2,700 houses in 15 settlements of the Kherson Region were flooded after the collapse of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant’s (KHPP) dam, emergency services told TASS.

"According to the latest data, the water flooded about 2,700 houses in 15 settlements of the Kherson Region. A total of 22,000 people lived there. Almost 1,300 people have been evacuated," the source said. Vladimir Saldo, the Governor of the Kherson Region, controlled by Russia said on June 7 that the maximum number of local residents that could be affected by Kiev’s regional terrorist act even by 40,000 persons.

The authorities deployed 40 temporary shelters capable of settling up to 5,500 people. By evening on June 7, 345 civilians were staying in them.

3. Why Kiev was interested in such barbaric act like flooding the huge territory not controlled by it:

a) Kiev has been shelling the Kakhovka HPP for more than a year especially aiming to destroy the hydraulic floodgates of the station several hundred times since February 2022. Kiev and his bosses have not been able to prove – where from Russia has shelled this dam and when, if Russia controls the station since the beginning of the SMO?

b) Kiev increased the volume of water at the Dnieper HPP Reservoir located upstream to maximum level and then opened all its floodgates to increase the volume of water going via Kakhovka HPP to produce negative effects of flooding.

c) by destruction of the Kakhovka HPP Kiev decreased the level of water in the North Crimean Canal supplying water to Crimea. Water from the Kakhovka reservoir irrigates arid regions of the Kherson Region and the Crimean Peninsula via that canal. Back in 2014, after the Crimea voted overwhelmingly to reunite with Russia in a referendum, Ukraine shut down the canal, and only Moscow was finally able to solve the water supply problems for the Russian region in March 2022 as part of its ongoing Special Military Operation in Ukraine.

d). Kiev flooded the huge area in Kherson Region because it understands that this area will never agree to join Ukraine again.

e) such barbaric act has been done by Kiev in order to prevent liberation of the rest of Kherson Region still controlled by AFU.

f) Kiev destroyed Kakhovka HPP and its dam with the aim to give less water supply to Zaporozhye NPP cooling system, or to cease the operation of the nuclear power plant in general.

All hydro facilities located upstream [along the Dnepr Rever] are controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A conscious discharge of water there could only be with the sanction from the Ukrainian military and its NATO leaders. Water was dumped deliberately from hydro facilities that the Russian side does not control.

A number of respected US commentators including journalist Tucker Carlson and former U.S. INF Treaty inspector Scott Ritter pointed out that Russia lacked any motivation to attack the dam - which helped ensure water security in Crimea, and provided crucial water supplies used to cool the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Kiev forces have targeted the Kakhovka HPP and its dam since the spring of 2022, and Moscow spent well over a year warning of the catastrophe that would result if the dam were damaged or destroyed.

Russia regretted that the international community did not hear its warnings last October about the potential threat that the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP and dam would pose, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said on June 6. “We have warned the international community and UN leadership about this threat,” Nebenzia said during a UN Security Council meeting, in reference to an October 2022 letter that stated Ukrainian forces were planning on destroying the dam through sea mines or a missile strike. "At the end of October 2022, we circulated an official document of the UN Security Council, a note from the permanent mission on the Kiev regime’s plans to destroy the Kakhovka HPP [hydroelectric power plant]. We regret that our calls to the secretary-general to do everything possible to prevent this horrifying crime were not duly heeded." The letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres detailed Russian military had registered enemy airstrikes targeting Kakhovka HPP foodgates, with the intention of flooding the area.

Russian envoy emphasized that statements blaming Russia for the incident use the same flawed logic as claims that Moscow played a role in the Nord Stream destruction. "Such conclusions reek of schizophrenia," he said, underscoring the danger posed by such a narrative.

Nebenzia took the opportunity to further point out that Kiev had considered undertaking such an operation as far back as last year, a plan reported on by the US media in December 2022. He meant Major General  Andriy Kovalchuk, who was tasked with leading the Kherson counteroffensive, partially considered flooding the adjacent area controlled by Russian troops. The Ukrainians, Kovalchuk admitted, even conducted a test strike with M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems or HIMARS launchers. Several HIMARS rockets hit one of the floodgates at the Kakhovka HPP dam, making three holes in the metal to see if the Dnieper’s water could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings. The test was a success, Kovalchuk added {a link is: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/29/ukraine-offensive-kharkiv-kherson-donetsk].

Nebenzia also condemned the behavior of the UN Secretariat for its 'politicized' statements and for not condemning Kiev over the attack. “We are deeply bewildered that the UN Secretariat repeatedly fails to condemn the attacks perpetrated by the Kiev regime citing insufficient information,” he told the Security Council.

4.  Kiev regime delivers over 500 strikes on Russia’s Belgorod Region

Ukraine’s Armed Forces have shelled Russia’s borderline Belgorod Region more than 500 times over the past 24 hours with around 460 shells fired at the Shebekino municipal district, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on June 7.

"Some 460 various projectiles have been launched at the Shebekino municipal district and 26 drops of explosive devices by drones have been recorded. In the city of Shebekino, strikes were mostly delivered on residential areas," he clarified.

The governor added that 33 artillery shells were fired at the Zhuravlyovka settlement in the Belgorodsky district and it was attacked by kamikaze drones twice. In the Borisovsky district, the Tsapovka settlement came under a mortar attack, in the Volokonovsky district, four mortar shells were launched at the Stary farmstead, in the Grayvoronsky district, the Kozinka settlement was bombarded and air defense systems intercepted two air targets over Belgorod.

Gladkov said that the shelling of the Kozinka settlement damaged a gas pipe, cutting off gas service to 74 customers. The bombardments in the Shebekino district damaged an agricultural facility, as well as some residences and vehicles.

5. Ukraine blown up Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline

A Ukrainian sabotage group has blown up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in Kharkov Region. There are casualties among the civilian population, the Russian Defense Ministry said on June 7."On June 5, at about 21:00 Moscow time [18:00 GMT], a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline near the settlement Masyutovka in Kharkov Region," the ministry announced.

The explosion of the pipeline was designated as a terrorist attack, there are victims among the civilian population, they have "received the necessary medical assistance," according to the MoD. "Currently, ammonia residues are being drained from the Ukrainian territory through the damaged sections of the pipeline. There are no casualties among Russian soldiers," the ministry said.

Footage appeared online appearing to document the consequences of the sabotage attack, showing toxic clouds of ammonia vapor pouring into the local environment.

Ammonia is not recognized as a traditional chemical weapons agent, but exposure to very high levels of the chemical can damage the lungs and cause death. Ammonia is also highly toxic to fish, wildlife, and plant life.

Note: The Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline runs from the Russian region of Samara, entering Ukraine at Kharkov and pushing south and west toward the Black Sea coastal city of Odessa, where the resource is exported. Ammonia is a key raw material used in the enrichment of natural fertilizers. The pipeline was built in 1979 during the Soviet period, and, until recently, was able to transport up to 2.5 million tons of ammonia per year. The pipeline's use was stopped last February after a full-blown Ukrainian-NATO aggression unleashed against Donbass and later against Russia.

Russia has sought to reactivate the pipeline as part of the Grain Deal negotiated with the help of Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022. Last month, Moscow warned that if its demands to reconnect the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT and relaunch the pipeline were not addressed, the Grain Deal would be terminated after July 17 this year.

It will take up to three months to repair the pipeline. Naturally, at the expense of Zelensky.

Written by Vladimir P. Kozin