Battles are also fueled by symbols and trenches. Like Mariupol at the initial stage of the war, the city of Kherson became the main strategic point of the Russian offensive, which devastated Ukraine for more than a year and a half. And with the relative transfer of responsibility between the attacked and the aggressors, the breaking of the dam is, as has almost always been, only the latest in ‘strategic’ acts of war against a civilian population that pays the highest price of war. conflict.
Strategic importance of the burst dam
Let’s start with the news of the day: the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam. Just take a look at the map below to understand the strategic significance and extent of this destruction.
The dam was built in 1956 by the then Soviet Union. 30 meters high and several hundred meters wide, it stood out north of Kherson, on the Dnieper, the largest river in Ukraine. While feeding the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, its waters were used to cool the reactors of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Therefore, it is a fundamental strategic study for the energy infrastructure of the entire surrounding area and region. Its destruction poses a strong risk of flooding in the surrounding areas and in the city of Kherson, which is disputed between Russians and Ukrainians for the whole of 2022. According to officials, more than a thousand people have already been evacuated from at-risk areas. But not only that, the dam was necessary for the water supply of Crimea, a region now controlled by Moscow. The Russians, who physically control the dam, accuse the Ukrainians of bombing the dam to hide their difficulties in their counterattack and say the UN has been warned since October of Ukraine’s plans to demolish the dam. Kiev responds by placing the blame on Moscow and calling for UN intervention by openly talking about a genuine “terrorist act”. Finally, there are those who, as the Washington Post’s American journalist Evan Hill’s tweet suggests, that the dam’s collapse could also be attributed to inadequate maintenance by the Russians.
However, as with the sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, it is very likely that the truth will not come out easily. What is certain is that the collapse and flooding of the dam will in the short term affect the Ukrainian counteroffensive and the battle to retake the city and Kherson, which Kiev regards as one of the most important battles of the entire war. area
Russia withdraws from Kherson: a turning point in the war?
Kherson: Why is the city essential to Putin and Zelensky?
To understand the importance of Kherson, it is necessary to look at the map of its location once again. The city has always been a strategic nexus for control of southern Ukraine and the Black Sea.
Its importance is twofold. First of all, Kherson was the first Ukrainian city to be captured by the Russians in March 2022. The city was retaken by the Ukrainians in November, after months of intense fighting, a counterattack that began in August, and the Russian withdrawal, which many saw as ‘strategic’. .
Like Bakhmut, a city in the Donetsk region of northern Ukraine, it is one of the main centers of the conflict. Because besides having a symbolic value, it also has a very strategic value. Control of the city became the main springboard for the Russians to launch attacks on the cities of Mykolaiv and Odessa: Russian targets had been declared from the very beginning of the so-called “special operations”. In addition, water architecture is very important to meet the water needs of Crimea. Russian troops are currently concentrated in the eastern part of the Dnepr River, waiting for the Ukrainian counterattack, aimed at defending the conquered lands and the roads to Sevastopol.
The point is that for Moscow, the loss of the city is a heavy setback, especially after the mandatory referendum in September 2022 that compelled its citizens to sign it. Because although the conquest of the port cities of the Black Sea was among the initial goals, now this goal is decreasing day by day and even Crimea is starting to take risks. And beyond the transfer of responsibility, the collapse of the dam could temporarily halt Ukraine’s progress in the region. And from the Kremlin, water and energy issues aside, coke can be seen as a nice shot.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
