It is day 256 of the Russian war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine and there is still no sign of relaxation – on the contrary. Disturbing news is coming from the south of the country this Sunday, and concerns are also growing in the capital Kyiv. The situation at a glance:
According to Russian sources, the Ukrainian army fired at the Nowa Kakhovka dam with rocket launchers and hit it with a projectile. According to the state news agency TASS, the Russian administration said that only minor damage was caused. The wall is still intact. The information cannot be independently verified.
The gigantic structure on the Dnieper River is of outstanding strategic importance. In addition to providing power, it is one of only two crossings across the river in the Kherson region. In recent weeks, the Ukrainian side has expressed fears that the Russian army has mined the dam so that it can blow it up if it retreats. This too cannot be checked. A blast would have devastating effects, dozens of settlements along the course of the river could be flooded. The cooling system at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant upstream could also be affected. Russia had already started evacuating residents of the region.
Concerns are also growing in Kyiv, around 450 kilometers away. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, sees the power supply at risk given the ongoing Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure. According to the “New York Times”, there are even considerations of bringing all of the approximately three million inhabitants of the metropolis to safety. The city’s security officer countered the report: “The civil defense system needs to be more prepared for different scenarios, but that doesn’t mean we’re preparing for an evacuation.”
A collapse in supply is the worst scenario and everything will be done to prevent it from happening, said Klitschko. “But we want to be frank: Our enemies are doing everything to ensure that this city is without heating, without electricity, without water supply – in general: that we all die.” Klitschko called on the population to stock up or to leave the city as a precaution.
According to local authorities, Russian troops fired on several cities in southern Ukraine during the night. In Zaporizhia, one person was killed and a civil infrastructure building was destroyed, an employee of the city council said without further details. The Russian Defense Ministry said an ammunition depot belonging to the Ukrainian army was hit in Zaporizhia.
Shells from barrel artillery and multiple rocket launchers hit several places in the Dnipropetrovsk region. A nine-year-old girl was injured in the town of Myrowe, the chairman of the regional parliament, Mykola Lukaschuk, wrote on Telegram. The places hit are on the northern bank of the Dnipro River. Russian troops have occupied the south bank and can shoot from there, for example from the protection of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. This information cannot be verified either.
Sources: “New York Times” (paid content), news agencies DPA and AFP
