dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

the pieline the dam and other attempts to frame russia as terrorists is leading to make this believable

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12167563/Russia-try-blow-largest-nuclear-plant-Europe-Ukraine-warns.html

Russia may be plotting to blow up the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Ukraine has warned, after explosions at a major dam and hydroelectric plant caused mass flooding in the Kherson region and sparked a humanitarian disaster.

A series of blasts yesterday morning caused the critical Nova Kakhovka dam, which lies along the Dnieper river in Russian-held territory, to partially collapse and led to 'catastrophic' floods.

Some two dozen towns were overrun by the deluge with footage from the region showing entire villages submerged and houses swept away.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of detonating an 'environmental bomb of mass destruction', saying authorities expected up to 80 settlements to be flooded and urging the world to 'react'.

'This crime carries enormous threats and will have dire consequences for people's lives and the environment,' Mr Zelensky said, while US security officials warned there would likely be 'many deaths' as a result of the floods.

The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for the blast, claiming it was a ploy by Kyiv to distract from the launch of a major counteroffensive Moscow says is faltering.

But Mr Zelensky's top security official Oleksiy Danilov dismissed the allegations and said that Putin's next step may be to attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which lies just up the river from Kakhovka and relies on water from the dam to cool its reactors.

Mr Danilov told The Times that since Putin has entered 'a fundamentally new stage of Russian aggression… [and] had the hydroelectric power plant blown up on his demand, he's ready to do anything'.

The destruction of the dam on the Dnieper river, which separates Russian and Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine, is set to displace tens of thousands of people.

Astonishing before and after pictures show how floods have left entire towns under water - SEE HERE

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The cause of the blasts is not yet clear, although Ukraine warned late last year that Russian forces had mined the dam as they retreated from Kherson and Ukraine's state hydroelectric company said the Kakhovka plant was destroyed by an explosion in the engine room - suggesting it was attacked from within rather than by external strikes.

Ukrainian authorities said 17,000 people were being evacuated and a total of 24 villages had been flooded.

'Over 40,000 people are in danger of being flooded,' prosecutor general Andriy Kostin said, adding that 25,000 more needed to be evacuated on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnieper.

'The evacuation will continue tomorrow and in the coming days - by bus and train,' presidential adviser Oleksiy Kuleba said last night.

Terrifying video shows houses being swept away and entire towns submerged by the deluge.

Village streets and fields near to the dam have been swamped by flooding as a Russia-installed local mayor warned that the water level would continue to rise for another 72 hours and claimed he expected 40ft high floods in some places.

Last October, Mr Zelensky accused Russia of planting mines at the dam, warning that its destruction would spur a fresh wave of refugees into Europe.

READ MORE: What is the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine, what triggered its destruction and what damage has been caused?

Kyiv said 150 tonnes of engine oil had spilled into the river, and the agricultural ministry said about ten thousand hectares of farmland on the right bank of the river would be flooded and 'several times more' on the left bank.

Western powers blamed Russia for the damage, with EU chief Charles Michel calling it a 'war crime', while Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said the dam breach was 'outrageous'.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the country's military and intelligence agencies were probing whether Russia blew up the dam, but that it was 'too soon' to say definitively.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres called the attack 'another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine'.

'Today's tragedy is yet another example of the horrific price of war on people,' he said.

US intelligence officials alleged to have intelligence proving Moscow was responsible for the catastrophe - though the White House said it 'cannot say conclusively' what caused the destruction.