Ministry of Defence announces reasons for Russians' blowing up of Kakhovka HPP

The Russian invaders are moving their most combat-ready units from the Kherson front – primarily the marines, airborne troops and the 49th Army – after the blowing up of the Khakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), the Ministry of Defence has said.

Source: Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defence, on Telegram

Quote from Maliar: "Therefore, the purpose of the Russians' blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP has become obvious.

Thus, taking into account their own losses and limited reserves, and understanding the inability to deter the Ukrainian offensive on various fronts, the command of the Russian invaders has decided to "narrow" the possible geography of the Armed Forces' intense actions.

The blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP was obviously carried out in order to prevent the Ukrainian defence forces from launching an offensive in the Kherson sector and to free up the necessary reserves for their deployment to the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut fronts."

Details: Maliar explains that by destroying the Kakhovka HPP, Russia is trying to divert some of the forces and assets of the Ukrainian defence forces to deal with the man-made disaster, thereby "making it impossible to liberate the occupied territories on the left bank of Kherson Oblast".

Read more: "We are not afraid, we have sailed home." Ukrainska Pravda on high water and evacuation in Kherson

Background:

• On the morning of 6 June, Ukraine’s Operational Command Pivden (South) reported that Russian occupation forces had blown up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), completely destroying the dam and the power plant's turbine hall. The plant is beyond repair. The draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir threatens the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
• The destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant has caused an environmental disaster. The water from the reservoir has begun to flood towns and villages, and evacuations of local residents from dangerous areas have begun. It has caused problems with the water supply in the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Marhanets and Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that the disaster at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station created by the Russians would not stop Ukraine from liberating its own territory and would not increase the chances of the occupiers staying on this land.

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