Thread by @newsopini

Why Ukraine couldn’t blow up the #Kakhovka HPP and wouldn’t have any benefit from it? And why did Russia have the opportunity and motivation to do it? Thread for foreigners👇

1/ Firstly, over the past 3 days, experts agreed that the HPP could have suffered such destruction only due to an explosion from within. The HPP was built by the USSR - and it had to withstand even a nuclear attack. The version about self-destruction is also unlikely.

2/ Secondly, in recent months, Ukraine has carried out attacks along the Dnipro and on the islands. 🇺🇦was preparing for a large-scale counteroffensive, and it is obvious that forcing the Dnipro could be an auxiliary attack. You don't blow up bridges and dams when you attack.

3/ Thirdly, Ukraine's strategic goal is the liberation of all occupied territories. The war is ongoing on 🇺🇦territory - Ukraine is experiencing huge losses. Destruction of hydroelectric power plants means a lot of humanitarian, environmental, energy and economic problems.

4/ Blowing up the HPP creates a huge number of problems for Ukraine and forces it to spend a huge amount of money. After Russia purposefully destroyed the Ukrainian energy industry in the winter, blowing up the HPP is an even greater absurdity.

5/ And what about Russia? Russia had access to the internal buildings of the HPP. Ukraine warned that Russia was mining the HPP as early as the fall of 2022. That is, Russia had every opportunity to blow up the station from the inside.

6/ Was Russia worried about civilians? No. Because this is Ukrainian territory. No country in the world has recognized the territories occupied by Russia. Therefore, Russia perfectly understands that sooner or later they will have to leave.

7/ That is, it's not their territory and you can do anything on it.

A week before the blow-up of the hydroelectric power station, the Russian government allows not to investigate accidents "at hydro-technical structures that occur during hostilities."

8/ The Russians have already shown how they treat the occupied territories of Ukraine. They are ready to leave them as soon as the situation becomes critical. So they left #Kherson and do not even say anything about when they plan to return it.

9/ Russia also recognized the Zaporizhzhia region as its own. But what about the city of Zaporizhzhia? Is this the allegedly occupied territory of Russia? But no, because the Russian authorities don't mention Zaporizhzhia AT ALL. There are no plans to "liberate" its "own" city.

10/ Now about the military aspect. On June 5, the Telegram channel Rybar, linked to the Russian Ministry of Defense, admitted that Ukraine had liberated almost all the islands near #Kherson and even had some positions near the city of Oleshky on the left bank.

11/ On the same day, another channel wrote that Ukraine is preparing to force the Dnipro at the Kakhovka HPP dam, which is the most convenient place. Only two bridge spans were missing on the dam, and everything else was intact. And literally on the same night, the dam collapses.

12/ Even the slightest breach of the dam would first of all flood the islands near Kherson - precisely those where Ukraine had set up positions and was preparing for an attack on the left bank. Now the Ukrainian troops had to retreat.

13/ Yes, some of the Russian positions were also flooded, but they will retreat and make a new defensive line. Instead, it’s now much more difficult for Ukraine to force the river, because the distance between the Ukrainian and Russian positions has become much greater.

14/ In general, you can forget about forcing. For Russia, the threat from the Dnipro has become much smaller - this will allow the transfer of part of the troops to other directions. This is why RUSSIA BLEW UP THE DAM.