Based on satellite images taken before the dam at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) burst, journalists from leading international media outlets have come to the conclusion that the dam may have collapsed due to previously sustained damage rather than as a result of the explosion.
Source: Christopher Miller of The Financial Times; Evan Hill of The Washington Post; Oliver Carroll of The Economist
Details: Miller pointed out that satellite images made by Maxar in recent weeks showed recent damage to the Nova Kakhovka dam’s sluice gates and a section of roadway running across it.
Hill pointed out that shortly before the dam burst, the water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir had reached unprecedented levels. The New York Times said this could have happened because Russia, which controlled the hydroelectric power plant, kept too few floodgates open.
At the same time, Economist journalist Oliver Carroll reported that eyewitnesses had told the newspaper about a “deafening explosion” that was heard in the early morning in Kakhovka.
Background:
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On the night of 6 June, the Russian occupiers blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, destroying the engine room and the plant itself, which is beyond repair. Ukrhydroenergo expects the reservoir to be operational within the next four days. A fall in the water level at the Kakhovka dam threatens the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
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Water from the reservoir has begun to flood cities and villages, and the evacuations of local residents from areas at risk have begun. The blowing up of the dam at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant has caused problems with the water supply in the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Marhanets and Nikopol, Dnipro Oblast.
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Nataliia Humeniuk, head of the press centre of Operational Command Pivden (South), said the Russian invaders lost their nerve while waiting for the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to start, so they blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant hoping to stop it.
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The Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the Russians’ blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP will not prevent the Defence Forces from continuing to liberate the occupied territories.
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A week before the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was blown up, the Russian authorities authorised the non-investigation of accidents at high-risk facilities that occurred as a result of “military operations” and terrorist attacks.
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According to preliminary information, the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was blown up by the 205th Motorised Rifle Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and some of the names of those involved are known.
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