The Russian newspaper “Izvestia” published on its Telegram account a video of the explosion from the bridge at the Nova Kakhovskaya NPP in the Kherson region.

Satellite images of the damaged Nova Kakhovka – Maksar damPhoto: Handout / AFP / Profimedia

Footage of the moment when the Russians detonated explosives on the bridge at the Nova Kakhovka dam began to spread on Twitter, shared by military analyst Rob Lee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, which constantly monitors the military units that Putin has sent to Ukraine.

The video was published on the Telegram channel of the Russian newspaper Izvestia on Saturday morning, which said it was “exclusive footage” of the moment the bridge was blown up, without specifying who was behind the blow.

Images released by Maxar show extensive damage to several bridges and a dam in Novaya Kakhovka, near Kherson, where Russian troops retreated on Friday.

According to Maksar, there are “deliberately destroyed areas on the north side of the dam and sluices” on the Nova Kakhovka dam.

Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the failure of the dam

Earlier this week, Russia accused Ukraine of bombing the dam.

Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of plans to breach the dam with explosives, which would flood much of the area downstream and likely cause significant destruction around Kherson.

Kherson was the only regional capital to be captured by Russia after its forces invaded Ukraine in late February.

More than 30,000 Russian troops have withdrawn from the eastern bank of the Dnieper, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday in a statement published by the Interfax news agency.

“All personnel, weapons and military equipment of the group have been moved to the left bank [estic]. In total, more than 30,000 Russian military personnel, about 5,000 units of weapons and military equipment, as well as material assets, were withdrawn,” the report says.

A false flag attack

On October 20, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated at a meeting of the European Council that he had information that Russia would prepare an attack under a false flag by mining the Novaya Kakhovka dam, speaking of a possible “disaster of historic scale.”

According to Zelenskyi, the dam holds about 18 million cubic meters of water, and if it were to explode, it would quickly flood 80 settlements, including Kherson:

  • “Hundreds of thousands of people may be affected. The water supply of a large part of the south of the country may be destroyed. Zaporizhzhia NPP may not have enough water for cooling systems. Even the operation of the canal that feeds Crimea, which I tell the Russians that I care about, will be compromised “.

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