Russia conducted missile and drone strikes in Central and Western Ukraine early this morning, which cut power to several cities, and may have demobilized significant rail capacity. Just 36 hours earlier, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a distinct formulation in his ravings against Russia, that carried the threat of another Western hit on critical infrastructure, this time, against the Dnieper River dam, from which water is channeled to Crimea. He spoke of this Oct. 20, by a video link to the European Council meeting that day.
Zelenskyy alleged that Russia could conduct a false-flag bombing of the Kakhovka Dam and Hydropower Station on the Dnieper, and blame it on Ukraine. The explosion would then flood Kherson, and harm the cooling function downriver at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. He elaborated that Ukraine has evidence that Russia might do this.
What he conspicuously did not say, but is well known to all who know anything about the region’s infrastructure, is that such a bombing would close the source reservoir for channeling water southward through Kherson and across northern Crimea, all the way to Kerch. This channel is the Severo-Krymsky Canal, which provides town water supplies, irrigation, and also contributes to replenishing the artesian wells on the Crimean Peninsula.
