Russian War Crimes in its "Special Military Operation' in Ukraine

"[The] Special Military operation is now in its death throes, with a rampant, confident, well-trained and -equipped Ukraine army on the march. It is becoming clearer that the Russian military will hit a speed bump conventionally, and with a leader and army commanders with no morals or scruples we must brace ourselves for further unconventional violence."

"The attacking of schools and hospitals was a portent of the evil of Putin's regime, and the blowing of the dam is another move of truly terrible intent."

"Whatever it takes, we must ensure Ukraine prevails as quickly as possible, as there is still the spectre of escalation to chemical, biological and -- terrifyingly -- nuclear war."

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commander, U.K. and NATO CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) forces

 

"The strikes began during evacuation of the residents, whose houses were flooded."

"Russia has abandoned people in calamity in the occupied part of the Kherson region. It continues to prevent Ukraine from saving the most valuable -- human lives."

Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs 

Reuters

 

Yesterday, Russian forces shelled a Ukrainian city inundated in a catastrophic dam collapse, forcing a suspension of rescue work mere hours following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's appearance in the area, in an effort to assess the damage. Many people in the region are now homeless, with tens of thousands of people lacking potable water after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam which Ukraine has accused Russia of blowing up. The facility has been under the control of Moscow's forces.

With the dam destroyed, the flooding that ensued has ruined food crops, it has displaced landmines, with widespread environmental damage, setting the stage for electricity shortages of long-term duration. Drone footage shows the ruined dam collapsing into the flooded river, leaving hundreds of homes, greenhouses and a church submerged. The largest municipality affected, Kherson city, suffered repeated Russian shelling close to where emergency crews and volunteers were dispensing aid.

People were wounded when evacuation points in Kherson were hit. Rescue workers temporarily suspended work in their efforts to retrieve stranded residents and pets while shells landed in the floodwaters. The Dnieper River is a pivotal waterway forming part of the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces, and the dam was positioned along the waterway. 

Both sides in the conflict coped with the fallout from the burst dam, with Ukrainian rescue workers stepping up efforts to provide drinking water, medical care and other humanitarian support to nearby residents. President Zelenskyy had travelled to Kherson to view matters firsthand, visiting an aid distribution point and a medical facility, ordering Ukrainian officials to provide a "fair valuation" of the devastation to guide help in compensating residents. 

 

Still from video

 

The misery the region has suffered for over a  year from artillery and missile attacks has been intensified by the collapse of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, and subsequent emptying of its reservoir on the river. Access to fresh water and avoidance of contact with explosives-and-chemical-contaminated water from industrial sites appeared the most immediate concerns, noted by the local authorities and tracked by the United Nations.

Well over 6,000 people were evacuated from dozens of cities, towns and villages, inundated on both sides of the river in an area once home to over 60,000 residents. The destruction of the dam and the giant reservoir of water used for irrigation and drinking water will as time goes on stop fresh water being supplied to Russian controlled Crimea whose reservoirs are currently at 80 percent capacity.

The average level of flooding in the region is about 5.6 metres, with about 600 square kilometres of the region submerged, over two-thirds on the Russian-controlled eastern bank. "The blowing up of the dam at Ukraine's Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant was, quite simply, an act of terror by a terrorist state. With his army failing and his air force stuck in its hangars, it would appear Vladimir Putin is prepared to do almost anything to cling on to the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine and his throne in the Kremlin", wrote Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.