• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Who Destroyed the Kakhovka Dam?

by Noah Carl
7 June 2023 2:00 PM

On June 6th, Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam was destroyed, unleashing vast quantities of water that are now flooding downstream areas. The question, as in the case of the Nord Stream sabotage, is whodunnit?

The potential culprits are the two warring parties, Ukraine and Russia, each of whom has already blamed the other. There’s also the possibility that the dam failed on its own due to damage sustained during the war.

Let’s consider that possibility first. Satellite imagery shows that a section of the road fell into the water on June 2nd, which suggests the dam may have been deteriorating for some time. Indeed, it was damaged twice in November by shelling and/or controlled explosions, with each side blaming the other as usual. In addition, the water level was at a 30-year high.

However, “local residents reported on social media that they heard a huge explosion around the time the dam was breached”, according to the New York Times, which all but proves the dam did not simply fail on its own.

Was it Russia? Unlike with the Nord Stream sabotage, Russia did have a plausible motive: to thwart a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kherson region. And even if that seems tenuous, Russia could always benefit from a false flag attack. Back in October, Zelensky accused of Russia of plotting to blow up the dam.

There’s also precedent: Russia has been bombing Ukraine’s infrastructure for months and has already destroyed several other dams – though to my knowledge it hasn’t previously denied responsibility for doing so.

What’s more, “engineering and munitions experts” quoted in the New York Times said that “an attack from outside the dam” was “less plausible” than an “internal explosion” – which points the finger at Russia, since they were in control of the dam. However, the experts did not completely rule out an external attack.

Yet there are reasons to doubt Russian culpability.

According to experts quoted in a Moscow Times article last October, “blowing the dam would not give Russia any significant military advantages and would jeopardize water supplies to Russian-controlled areas”. The article quoted Michael Kofman as saying that destroying the dam “would mean Russia essentially blowing its own foot off”.

Indeed, the dam provided water for the North Crimean Canal – the source of around 85% of Crimea’s water. Ukraine had blocked the canal in 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but it was reopened by Russian forces in the early weeks of the war.

Some people claim that restoring Crimea’s water supply was a major reason why Putin launched his invasion. Russia had accused Ukraine of “genocide” for blocking the canal, and Crimea’s “water crisis” was seen as an “impossible problem for Putin”. Given all this, it seems difficult to believe that Russia would intentionally sabotage the dam.

Question from yesterday’s White House press briefing.

What about Ukraine? It too had a plausible motive: washing away Russian minefields and fortifications on the left bank of the Dnieper. And like Russia, Ukraine could always benefit from a false flag attack.

Just as Zelensky accused Russia of plotting to blow up the dam, Russian General Sergei Surovikin accused Ukraine of doing the same thing. In fact, the two sides had been trading accusations for months.

What’s more, Ukrainian General Andriy Kovalchuk actually “considered flooding the river”, as the Washington Post reported in December. The Ukrainians “even conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates”. Although the “test was a success”, the step “remained a last resort” so they “held off”.

Either side could be behind the attack, and I think Russia being responsible is more plausible than in the case of Nord Stream. However, the fact that the dam’s destruction has once again put Crimea’s water supply in jeopardy suggests to me that Ukraine’s the more likely culprit. New evidence may yet tip the scales the other way.

Stop Press: Tucker Carlson broaches the whodunnit question in his first show for Twitter. He reckons it was the Ukrainians.

Ep. 1 pic.twitter.com/O7CdPjF830

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 6, 2023
Tags: Kakhovka damRussiaUkraine

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Richard Dawkins: “Affirmative Action is Racism”

Next Post

Dame Jacinda is Just the Latest Undeserved Gong for the Lockdown Gang

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

30 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

In Episode 35 of the Sceptic: Andrew Doyle on Labour’s Grooming Gang Shame, Andrew Orlowski on the India-UK Trade Deal and Canada’s Ignored Covid Vaccine Injuries

by Richard Eldred
9 May 2025
4

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Free Speech Union Helping 71 Year-Old ‘Thought Criminal’ Arrested by Kent Police and Held in Cell For Eight Hours

11 May 2025
by Toby Young

Britain Faces Months-Long Blackouts Because of Net Zero

11 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

News Round-Up

12 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

Oxford Union Rejects Call to Fly LGBT Flag During Pride Month

11 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

The Met Office is Unable to Name the Sites Providing ‘Estimated’ Temperature Data For its 103 Non-Existent Stations

12 May 2025
by Chris Morrison

Free Speech Union Helping 71 Year-Old ‘Thought Criminal’ Arrested by Kent Police and Held in Cell For Eight Hours

27

Miliband Plots Surge in Wind Farm Subsidies to Rescue Net Zero

30

From “Horrific” to “Dogwhistle”: Lucy Powell’s Change of Tack About the Rape Gang Scandal

21

News Round-Up

18

Britain Faces Months-Long Blackouts Because of Net Zero

18

From “Horrific” to “Dogwhistle”: Lucy Powell’s Change of Tack About the Rape Gang Scandal

12 May 2025
by Laurie Wastell

Declined: Chapter 18: The Unthinkable

11 May 2025
by Molly Kingsley

The Backlash to the War Against Boys

11 May 2025
by Noah Carl

Hugely Influential Covid Vaccine Study Claiming the Jabs Saved Millions of Lives Torn to Shreds in Medical Journal

10 May 2025
by Dr Raphael Lataster

Reflections on Empire, Papacy and States

10 May 2025
by James Alexander

POSTS BY DATE

June 2023
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« May   Jul »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences