The Kremlin still denies any connection to the breach of the dam. New evidence of a blast could now put the Russian army under pressure.
Russian soldiers of the 205th Rifle Brigade are said to have blown up the Kakhovka dam near Cherson at the beginning of June. This is reported by investigative journalists from the Eastern European broadcaster Radio Liberty and the research project “Slidstvo.info”. Their findings come from recordings of conversations intended to show how Russian soldiers exchanged panicked conversations with their superiors inside the dam on the night of the flooding.
A few minutes after local residents first reported explosive noises in the early morning of June 6, the following statements are said to have been made:
2:20 a.m.: How is the situation? Is everything ok? Standby, ready, everything on command!
2:20 a.m.: Now we have it, we can start.
2:21 a.m: OK, understood. Then come out to the meeting point and take everything with you.
2:21 am: We can’t take anything here.
2:30 a.m.: Emergency! The escape route is blocked, everything is full of water here.
02:34 am: Go to where you were dropped off.
02.34: We can’t get out, everything is flooded.
The journalists also give the names of some Russian soldiers who are said to have been deployed at the dam position. According to the report, they identified people in Russian propaganda videos at the dam site and compared them with profile pictures on social media.
According to a paper by the Ukrainian military intelligence service, their force, the 205th Rifle Brigade, is said to have around 400 soldiers and is now commanded by Colonel Roman Titov. Titov is said to have a criminal record “for abuse of power using violence and weapons”. A key role in the alleged blowing up of the dam could not be proved so far.
For the journalists, however, the voice recording “everything on command” indicates that the command to blow up must have come from Titov. Even now, the 205th Brigade is said to be located in the immediate vicinity of the dam in the town of Nowa Kachowka.
The units are said to have previously been active in eastern Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, and in the Chechen war. “We will even return from hell” is the motto of the troupe. From the early days of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the dam and associated hydroelectric power station have been under the control of Kremlin troops.
“Russian War Crime”
The dam burst on June 6, causing widespread flooding in southern Ukraine. Both the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro and the Ukrainian-controlled areas on the right bank were affected. More than 60 people died in the floods, and dozens are still missing. According to the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, the reconstruction costs in the Cherson region will amount to around 13 billion euros this year alone.
The reservoir before and after the dam burst: the difference is so clear. (Source: t-online)
Just one day after the dam burst, the Ukrainian general staff spoke of a targeted demolition of the dam, which was a “Russian war crime.” Moscow continues to deny this and blames the Ukrainian army. It was not until the end of May that the Kremlin instructed its authorities to stop investigating possible accidents in waterworks.
“Until January 1, 2028, no technical investigations will be carried out into accidents in potentially explosive production facilities and accidents in water management facilities that occurred as a result of military operations, acts of sabotage and terrorist attacks,” the Ukrainian daily Pravda quotes from the document.
Around seven months before the flood disaster, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had accused the Kremlin of having mined the dam. “According to our information, the units and the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station were mined by Russian terrorists,” Zelenskyy said in a video message at the time.
