Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking an international investigation into the collapse of the dam.
(Photo: dpa)
Riga, Berlin Eagerly awaited for weeks, the Ukrainian counter-offensive may now have begun. The US newspaper Washington Post published a corresponding report on Thursday, citing four members of the Ukrainian armed forces.
They said Ukrainian troops were intensifying their attacks on the front in the south-east of the country. The said informants could not be named. They are therefore not authorized to discuss developments on the battlefield in public, according to the corresponding report. However, the Ukrainian military denied the report.
“We have no such information,” a spokesman for Ukraine’s General Staff told Reuters. We do not comment on information based on anonymous sources.
Russia says it repelled a Ukrainian attack in the Zaporizhia region. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Ukrainian units tried to break through the front in the southern Ukrainian region during the night.
The Russian news agency Interfax Shoigu quoted four different attempts at attack as being repelled. The Ukrainians suffered heavy casualties and were forced to retreat. This information has not yet been independently verified. Meanwhile, according to the Ukrainian side, the floods in southern Ukraine have led to Russian troops in the affected areas retreating by up to 15 kilometers, a military spokeswoman said.
Consequences of the destruction of the Kachowka Dam
According to Ukraine, Russian troops have suffered casualties from the destruction of the dam, a view supported by US military analysts. The occupiers were not prepared for the consequences of blowing up the dam and therefore lost soldiers, equipment and military technology, the General Staff said in Kiev on Thursday. There are dead, injured and missing Russian soldiers. It is still unclear how many people, civilians and military personnel, may have lost their lives.
Experts from the US Institute for War Studies (ISW) also found that the masses of water that escaped from the reservoir destroyed Russian frontline defenses.
The cause of the flooding was the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on Tuesday, for which Ukraine blames Russia. The dam is located in Russian-held territory on the Dnipro River. Russia, on the other hand, blames Ukraine. Its President, Volodymyr Zelensky, is striving for an international investigation into the collapse of the dam.
In an interview, he said that when Ukraine regains control of the dam, it will invite international experts to investigate the incident.
>> Read here: Dam destruction plunges hundreds of thousands into distress
There is also a discussion as to whether errors in maintenance by the Russian occupying forces could be the cause of the disaster. The pro-opposition Russian research group CIT (Conflict Intelligence Team) writes of “criminal negligence on the part of the occupiers”. The Russian army had not regulated the outflow of water from the reservoir since last November and had accepted the bursting of the wall.
Pressure on Moscow increases
Militarily, the catastrophe hurt Russia more than Ukraine, as a security expert points out. Parts of the defenses on the Russian side were destroyed by the flood.
Kachowka Dam: Mutual finger pointing after destruction
When the water has drained away, the space over which Ukraine can start retaking their country will also increase. After a few days, the ground could be dry and support armored vehicles, the expert said.
Ultimately, this increases the course of the front, which the Russian armed forces, which have gotten on the defensive, have to secure. Ultimately, as the fighting spreads across a broad front, the pressure on Russia increases.
Moscow’s armies also lose space to maneuver in their backcourt. In recent days, Ukraine has destroyed ammunition and fuel depots, as well as anti-aircraft and electronic warfare units far behind the front lines by artillery and rocket fire.
Selensky visits localities
Meanwhile, President Zelenskiy visited some affected localities on Thursday. “We will help and rebuild everything that needs to be rebuilt,” he said in the Kherson region. Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, does not want to travel to the flooded areas himself, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The economic consequences of the flood are also becoming increasingly clear. According to reports from Ukraine’s state shipping administration on Thursday, parts of the overflowing Dnipro are now impassable, and the river is an important export route for agricultural products.
“It is the main artery of river navigation in Ukraine. And the Kakhovka lock was the last Dnipro lock that let all ships out to the open sea,” the agency said on Thursday. Now the gate for Ukrainian exports is blocked. Around 50 ships are stranded in the Kachowka Reservoir, where the water level is falling.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:
According to the government, Ukraine is also threatened with a crop failure of several billion tons. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land have been flooded, and at least 500,000 hectares of land would become deserted without irrigation.
With agency material.
More: These are the largest armies in the world in 2023