Kakhovka Dam

And when we liberated the city, the Russians started shelling us with artillery, mortars, and tanks, but at that time, there were no drones.

In June 2023, they blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, which caused a massive flood that claimed many lives and destroyed homes.

After that, they began adding different types of weapons.

First, there were aerial bombs, which they are still using today, and in August 2024, two years ago, they started using drones.

It's a, it's a setback, but the idea of the pipeline still remains.

It can be rebuilt, and with a decent government in Germany and a decent system in Western Europe, all that, all those assets could be rebuilt as the, um, the Kakhovka Dam and the hydroelectric reservoir in Ukraine can be rebuilt.

Uh, physical destruction can be rectified.

[laughs] History, history has a way of changing very quickly.

And even though there are regional centers that are still in comparison with Kharkiv, with Kyiv, they're not that big, which means that the land there itself is rather agricultural than urbanized one.

When Kakhovka Dam was blown up in June 2023 by Russians, that became obviously a disaster because of the flood.

We have heard a lot about the damage in different infrastructural aspects because the water is coming.

Obviously, lots of things were simply covered by water.

It's as if Russia is kind of managing the occupation and governing, but there's not really an economy to speak of.

I mean, yes, Oleshky is the most horrific example for a range of different reasons, including Rubicon bases, Russian drone unit bases near the area, including the consequences of Russia blowing up the Kakhovka Dam.

There are things that make it even worse.

But the situation across left bank of Kherson is horrific and the situation across the occupied territories is on a scale from, "Phew, that's quite bad" to, "This is an absolute crisis." And the fact that Russia doesn't let us see it doesn't mean it's not happening and it also doesn't mean that nothing can be done.

But in addition, uh, attacking infrastructure, uh, destroying dams and hydroelectric power stations, uh, conquering the-- uh, trying to conquer the n- the, uh, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station are also part of the tactic of, uh, a scorched earth waging of war on Ukraine.

Uh, in June of 2022, uh, the Russians blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, one of six major dams on the Dnipro River, the major river of Ukraine, and one of the most important rivers of, uh, in all of Europe.

Um, one of the...

In, in addition to flooding villages and towns downstream and releasing, uh, chemicals, uh, into the environment, uh, it, this act of destroying the, the hydropower station also threatened the cooling system of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.

Ukraine has been unable to negotiate the evacuation of civilians.

As a side note, in June 2023, the town was almost completely flooded after the Kakhovka Dam was breached.

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