Russia threatens flooding with mined dam, Zelenskiy tells EU

Bloomberg

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told European leaders that Russian forces have mined a dam in the occupied south, threatening “hundreds of thousands” with flooding and endangering the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Addressing a two-day summit of European Union leaders on Thursday, Zelenskiy said Kremlin forces had packed a dam with explosives at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, more than 40 miles upstream of Russian-occupied city of Kherson on the Dnipro river.
“If Russian terrorists damage this dam, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, would be in the zone of rapid flooding,” Zelenskiy is seen telling the summit in Brussels via video distributed on social media. The dam holds some 18 million cubic meters of water, Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy cited “information” held by Ukrainian authorities, without providing evidence for the claim.
The assertion was part of accusations traded between Moscow and Kyiv. Analysts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War said the Kremlin may aim to stage a “false-flag” attack, referring to remarks made by Russia’s senior commander in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, that Kyiv’s forces were planning an attack on the same dam.
An assault on the structure could serve to cover a Russian military retreat across the Dnipro, potentially halting a Ukrainian advance, while Moscow blames Zelenskiy’s military for the damage, ISW analysts said.
An explosion could also affect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the facility seized by Russian forces that’s become a focal point of the conflict, the Ukrainian president said. The atomic plant draws cooling water from the Kakhovka Reservoir to the east of the dam.
As Russian missile and drone attacks across the country target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure — forcing the battered nation’s grid operator to prepare for rolling blackouts — Zelenskiy also told EU leaders that Moscow was seeking to foment a “wave of migration.”
Attacks are “aimed at creating as many problems as possible with electricity and heat for Ukraine this fall and winter, so that as many Ukrainians as possible move to your countries,” Zelenskiy said.
A dam blast could also have consequences for Russia, by potentially destroying the canal supplying occupied Crimea with water, Zelenskiy said.

Biden is ‘worried’
Republicans may slash
Ukraine aid
President Joe Biden said he’s concerned Republicans may block additional aid to Ukraine if they win control of Congress in the November midterm elections.
“I am worried about that because they said they will cut it,” Biden told reporters in Pittsburgh, where he was campaigning with Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy warned Tuesday his party would not write a “blank check” for Ukraine if they win a majority in the House, the most glaring sign yet of growing skepticism within the GOP about US financial support for Kyiv in its war with Russia.
“People are going to be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine,” McCarthy, who would likely become Speaker if Republicans take control of the House, said at an event sponsored by Punchbowl News.