Last night, the Associated Press published a story claiming that imagery and other information prove that Russia had the means, the motivation and the opportunity to destroy the Kahkhova dam. But their sources—the Ukrainian military, the Royal United Services Institute (that is, British intelligence) and the neocon Institute for the Study of War—can hardly be considered disinterested parties. The “evidence” revolves around imagery captured from a drone. It said to show a car parked on the dam, dated May 28. The car’s roof has been removed by cutting and a drum of some kind, assumed to be a bomb, can be seen inside the car. It’s not known, however, if the car was there on June 6, when the dam failed.
The alleged Russian “motivation” for destroying the dam is said to have been provided by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, when he told reporters on June 13 that the failure of the dam wrecked Ukrainian plans for an offensive drive in the south. In fact, Putin’s actual demeanor was one of disappointment because “it would have been better for us if they had launched their offensive there—better for us because it would have been a bad offensive position for them,” he said—but that is not mentioned.
