Pictured: Russia builds dam to flood key southern counter-offensive target
Russia has built a makeshift dam to cause flooding and slow any advances in southern Ukraine ahead of Kyiv’s long-awaited counter-offensive, according to a new report.
Satellite imagery analysed by investigators at Bellingcat showed the barrier had been constructed as part of Moscow’s multi-layered defences around the city of Tokmak, in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Since the barrier was constructed out of sand in early May, the Tokmachka river has significantly widened to the east of the city. The imagery shows nearby fields becoming new obstacles in the last month as they were flooded by the rising water.
The move is seen as part of an effort to use water to create potential stumbling blocks to stall Ukraine’s counter-offensive by mimicking the so-called “rasputitsa” mud season during the summer months.
“Water has been used as a tool on several occasions since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion,” the Bellingcat report said. “In these instances, dams were broken to flood downstream areas, likely in order to complicate offensive efforts of the enemy.
“This would lead to higher water levels and muddy ground downstream along with the longer-term outcome of dried up reservoirs.”
Russia has spent months constructing a network of defences in southern Ukraine in a bid to stall Ukraine from pushing towards the Azov Sea cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk.
It would appear the man-made quagmires are a relatively new addition to the array of minefields, anti-tank ditches and concrete obstacles spanning the entire frontline.
Ukraine has managed to recapture a number of less-defended villages during its southern counter-offensive. But its forces are some 15 miles from Tokmak, which had a pre-war population of 30,000, and is the centre of Russia’s defences in the southern direction.
“Increasing the water levels of the Tokmachka river could be part of a greater effort at slowing down advancing Ukrainian forces,” Bellingcat wrote. “More specifically, this may be part of an effort to slow down an eastern envelopment of Tokmak in the event of a Ukrainian breakthrough near the city.”
Russia was accused of similarly using water to halt the Ukrainian offensive by destroying the Nova Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region this month, which led to widespread flooding.
Ukraine has also attempted to destroy dams to slow Russian advances, such as in Demydiv, north of Kyiv, at the start of the war.
Kyiv also reportedly opened the flood gates of the Oskil reservoir dam in April last year to complicate Russian efforts.
