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Your questions answered: ‘Is the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in the same category as a WMD?’
Our correspondents and experts have been answering your questions on the Ukraine war.
Sky News reader Henrietta has asked about the attack on the Kakhovka dam last week.
She says: “Several analysts have said that the dam explosion is equivalent to the use of weapons of mass destruction.
Military expert Sean Bell has tackled this one…
The collapse of the Kakhovka dam devastated parts of southern Ukraine, leaving thousands displaced and without access to drinking water. Exactly when the incident occurred on Tuesday 6 June is not clear, but several differing reports indicate that it began after 2am.
On local Telegram groups, residents reported hearing what sounded like explosions at around 2.20am. Twenty minutes later, residents using the same group chat reported hearing loud rushing water.
“It didn’t make this noise before the explosions,” one user said.
The Norwegian research agency NORSAR, which monitors seismic events, said its station in the region picked up a signal at 2.54am local time. This signal, it says, indicates there was an explosion.
It is, however, worth noting that in October last year, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of planting explosives inside the structure as far back as April – which is what they say was behind Tuesday’s disaster.
Ukraine would have very little to gain from blowing up the dam, even if it had the capability to do so. Dams are incredibly robust structures, and it is very unlikely that mortars or missiles impacting the outside of the dam could have demolished it.
The most likely cause is the Russians blowing the dam to protect their Western flank from a potential amphibious assault across the Dnipro river by the Ukrainians.
Therefore, although a catastrophic event, from a military perspective the Ukrainians will probably have anticipated that the Russians would blow the dam before or during the Ukrainian spring offensive.
Notwithstanding the wider implications, the threat of Russia blowing the dam is no longer a factor in Ukraine’s military plans, and as the floodwaters subside, so the Dnipro river will shrink over the summer and Ukraine’s offensive options expand once again.
In sum, despite the devastation, it looks unlikely that the West will consider the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in the same category as a WMD.
