By: Leo Shao
Kakhovka Dam was designed to withstand almost every outside attack possible with technology today. However, after being destroyed despite its seemingly invincibility, evidence suggests that Russia blew it up from the inside.
Ever since 2014, Russia and Ukraine had a controversial history. In June 2017, Ukraine’s parliament voted for the goal of joining NATO. However, Russia saw this as a threat since NATO was originally created to counter the former global superpower Soviet Union back in 1949 (https://tinyurl.com/whynato). When Ukraine officially joined NATO, conflict quickly escalated on February 24, 2022, when Russian military troops began invading the country. The conflict continues and demonstrates Russia’s potential motives for blowing up the Ukrainian Dam.
The Kakhovka Dam was vital for the nearby cities’ safety, so it could withstand nearly anything. It had a strong concrete foundation, and engineers who study dam failures agree that the collapse couldn’t have occurred on its own. “If your objective is to destroy the dam itself, a large explosion would be required,” said geotechnical engineer Michael W. West.”
Since the dam was built during the Soviet Union‘s reign, Russia knew every bit of the dam engineering. The dam was built with a giant concrete block for the base, with a passageway, reachable from the machine room, running through it (https://tinyurl.com/img22155)
After the explosives were denotated inside the dam, seismic sensors in Ukraine and Romania, witnesses in the area, and captured infrared heat signals all indicated an explosion. Soon after the initial breach, the power of rushing water, flooding the area, tore a larger and larger gash into the dam. Even after the water levels dropped, they fell below the top of the concrete foundation, strongly supporting that the foundation suffered structural damage. “I do not want my theory to be correct,” engineer Igor Strelets says. “A large explosion in the gallery might mean the total loss of the dam.”
In the aftermath, Russia and Ukraine continue to blame each other for the collapse. Although multiple explanations could be possible, the evidence clearly supports that the dam was blown up by the country that controls the dam, Russia.
Source:
Why the Evidence Suggests Russia Blew Up the Kakhovka Dam – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
What you need to know about the Ukraine-Russia crisis – DW – 02/22/2022