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Posted on 09/15/2022 4:16:57 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
Russian missiles have hit a reservoir dam near the southern Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, officials say.
Residents in some areas were told to evacuate, city head Oleksandr Vilkul said, but he added the situation was under control.
Ukraine said the strike was revenge by Russia for its recent counter-attack.
President Volodymyr Zelensky - who was born in the city - described Russia as a "terrorist state" after the attack on the Karachunivske reservoir.
"You are weaklings who fight civilians," Mr Zelensky said in his late night address on Wednesday. "Scoundrels who, having escaped from the battlefield, are trying to do harm from somewhere far away."
This was an apparent reference to Ukraine's recent military successes in a swift counter-offensive in the country's north-eastern Kharkiv region. It has seen Ukraine's army reclaim swathes of occupied territory, forcing Russian troops to retreat.
In his speech, Mr Zelensky said the reservoir had "no military value at all".
Mr Vilkul said that overnight two blasts were carried out to increase the water flow from the dam to the Inhulets river.
Water supplies were affected by the attack in the city, which had a pre-war population of more than 600,000 people.
Water broke through the dam and overflowed the banks of the river, flooding some houses, officials said.
On Thursday morning, Mr Vilkul said water levels in the Inhulets river had now "dropped considerably". He said there were no casualties.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
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Well, all that water interferes with the Fascist Army plans.
Let’s hope Putin keeps on the special operation path, using Chechens and local militia’s.
I do not want to see Putin unleash the power and fury of the Russian Army
No worries. Ukraine is winning.
Dam Busters! Great movie!
“The rising waters will wipe out the pontoon bridges the Ukrainians are using down stream”
Somewhat doubtful it will have much of an impact since the active Ukrainian lines of advance are over 50 miles away from Kryyvi Rih and fully west of the Inhulets River. If damage gets that far, it will hurt the Russians themselves since the Inhulets River flows just behind their front lines north of Kherson where the fighting is.
Dam good movie
In March Russia had this offer on the table:
In return, Ukraine wanted
And still Russia said "nyet" despite literally having ONLY to concede, in effect, to restoring a status quo ante based entirely on principles that even the Soviet Union , and then Russia, had no problem agreeing to when they took their seats at the United Nations.
Destroying power plants and a dam just confirms what I suspected: Russia had a winning deal on the table but it decided instead to bet the farm on Ukraine’s complete and unconditional surrender, getting to a point where Ukraine wouldn't even be allowed to defend itself from further Russian aggression, and those lurid stories of two generations of collective punishment on the Khokols could be visited on the population with no consequences... and to get this level of win, they are totally prepared to use completely disproportionate attacks against civilian populations, civilian property and civilian critical infastructure.
All pretence of this adventure in Ukraine being even remotely connected to saving Russian speaking peoples**** from aggressive Ukrainians has now gone completely out of the window. It's about subjugating the Ukrainian speakers, eliminating the Ukrainian thinkers, and erasing Ukrainian identity and culture.
* The law that enrages Russia so much was introduced by Poroshenko in 2019, before leaving office; it promotes Ukrainian as the country’s de-facto "official" language in businesses, schools and the media while Article 25 inside it gave some protections for Crimean Tatar, English, EU official languages, and other minority ethnic languages, but deliberately excluded Russian. An easy fix, I'd have thought.
** Preventing the political wings of Azov/Sparta affiliated neo-nazi groups (or equivalent separatist groups) from standing for political office in Ukraine may be antithetical to an American Constitutional viewpoint - but people should realise, Zelenskyy cannot satisfy all of Russia's peace demands related to denazification without doing precisely that. What's more important - appeasing Putin by crushing any political resistance to Russification, or protecting the right of political opponents to assemble and potentially allowing another Poroshenko to bring Azov into government?
*** Russia saying 'nyet' to these terms is a bit like doubling down on on inflicting massive reputational damage on itself; if they insist on standing by the annexations and independence recognitions they are disavowing the UN Charter principles on recognition of independent states as well as violating multiple agreements with the CIS.
**** 70% of adult Ukrainians spoke Russian so it still isn't clear to anybody how Russia ever intended to figure out which, within that 70%, were the ones it was trying to protect - unless the talk of eradicating Ukrainianism provides the solution to that question.
Vlad has shown much restraint. The West is puzzled by his SMO- he is doing well without mobilization of his military.
Fact is , Vlad holds all the cards, he hasn’t even opened his “ toolbox” yet. If/ when he does, the West will understand exactly what an “SMO “ is.
In the meantime, he can take his time tightening the screws preparing for the best General on earth to arrive: General Winter. General Winter I hear favors Russia….
Desperate gaslighting
that’s a dam shame.
pontoon bridges were lost in the losove area so many Uke troops are now cut off from resupply. they can still hang out in sucky starbucks for a while.
Better before they PC'd the dam dog's name out of it.
Not just a mere solution, but a Final Solution.
If Ukraine wants to get really nasty, they could disable the beautiful new bridge connecting Russia with the Kerch Peninsula on the east side of Crimea. The nearest city in Russia, under 100 miles, is Krasnodar. More than 35,000 cars a day have crossed the bridge free of charge on some days. The bridge has 4 traffic lanes and 2 railway tracks.
This project was dear to Putin’s heart/plans. Russia and Ukraine had cooperated to begin the project, but that ceased when Putin invaded Crimea in 2014. Then Putin moved the project forward to emphasize the annexation of Crimea and proudly opened the bridge to rail traffic 12/23/19 with the first scheduled passenger train celebrating it’s crossing on Christmas Day. It is the longest bridge built by Russia, and the longest bridge in Europe. This project reminds me of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge connecting the Baltimore/Washington, DC area to the beaches of the Delmarva Peninsula, and the very long bridge connecting the south end of the peninsula with Norfolk, VA.
If the Crimea is reclaimed by Ukraine, this bridge could be used in a negotiated settlement with Russia. The docks at Sevastopol in Crimea, currently used militarily by Russia, could be leased to Russia for peaceful commerce. This would help satisfy Russia’s centuries old quest for a warm water port. Given the new technology of EZPASS used to collect tolls on the Bay Bridge, a modest toll could be charged for payment to Ukraine, while allowing profitable tourism to continue.
This bridge could be an important part of negotiations to restore Crimea to Ukraine, while allowing beneficial use to both Ukraine and Russia. For God’s sake let us stop the mutual destruction currently being practiced. Ukraine rightly refuses to give away either Crimea or the Donbass areas. Russia refuses to give up it’s dream of a warm water port. Both can satisfied with this proposal.
Google “Crimean Bridge - Wikipedia” for an extensive article on the history and construction of this bridge with more than 120 references.
Please read my Comment #15.
Russia boarders the Black Sea unencumbered from about Sochi to about Anapa. They could build a port anywhere along that 150 mile coast with full no choke-point access to all of the Black Sea.
Cheaper than a war...
Russia is abandoning their DNR and LNR "allies" around Kharkiv. Taking out the bridge and reservoir behind it hurts the Russians in Donestk and Luhansk Putin claims he is protecting. Denis Pushilin, the Russian appointed head of the DNR, has disappeared. That is how expendable dupes and proxies are treated, not allies.
First, Ukraine does not have the weapons to destroy the bridge. They have more important targets for what they have. Even if they had the weapons, as they see it (not as Russia says Ukraine sees it), the bridge is not a priority. Then there are the political reasons. If the bridge is destroyed, its existence no longer matters for negotiated settlements, can't be used any more for commerce, can't be use for Russian forces to leave Crimea, etc.
I tend to agree.
In time, a negotiation for south Ukraine should be on the cards but I don’t see that happening with either the status quo ante or a future state under Russian full control. Both directions lead to greater conflict.
A “Devo Max” settlement for South Ukraine, backed by far more tightly defined security guarantees under a “Budapest 2.0”) still seems to me a more viable solution.
The “Devo Max” concept was devised for Scotland to offer it full fiscal autonomy and full control over domestic politics, allowing it to promote its separate identity and culture fully. It can’t NOT sit within the UK where GB-wide concerns apply (Great Britain is fixed geography) so defence and foreign policy based on the geography of these islands would remain in Westminster but with Scotland having far more input.
Following a similar approach, this is how it could work for Ukraine:
Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts with Crimea could be incorporated as five Republics within an Autonomous Union, inside the Budapest defined borders of Ukraine.
The AU would have completely devolved powers, and each Oblast would have its own identity (like US states do). The combined federal institutions would cover joint enterprises, and the AU would be independent of Kyiv for everything except security guarantees and international representation.
GEOGRAPHICALLY the region would not be Russian. So, if Russia got any ideas about annexing any part of this territory that’d be a violation of the new Budapest 2 agreement, and its ass would be in a sling. No loopholes this time round.
OK, so neither Ukraine nor Russia would be able to call it a victory, but as Bond said to Gogol, “That’s Detente, Comrade. You don’t have it, I don’t have it!”
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