On Wednesday afternoon, the Russian army fired some rockets at the Ukrainian town of Kryvyi Rih, located in the southern Dnipropetrovsk region, some fifty kilometers north of the Russian-held areas. A dam on the Inhulets River was hit and damaged in the attack, and water flooded several streets and inundated the city. It is another Russian attack on civilian infrastructure that is not strategic from a military point of view, and according to Ukrainian authorities it was carried out in revenge for the Ukrainian army’s recent victories in the north-east of the country.
After the attack, in which an estimated eight rockets were fired in total, city authorities immediately ordered the evacuation of hundreds of civilians, and night-time attacks on the dam aggravated the situation, causing water levels on some streets to drop 2.5 meters.
It’s unclear if Russia actually intended to hit the dam to cause flooding in the city. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), an American study center specializing in military analysis, it is more likely that the actual aim of the attack was to hit the dam to damage a bridge along the course of the river , which was erected in recent days by Ukrainian forces as part of the counter-offensive to recapture Kherson.
Russian invaders used cruise missiles to fire at water structures attempting to flood Kryvyi Rih in southeastern Ukraine
Hydraulic structures were damaged and several districts of Kryvyi Rih remained without water.https://t.co/EREtPJOyPa
📷 Zelenskyy’s TG, https://t.co/CHujy01fY3 pic.twitter.com/ltjKlIIQGe– Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) September 14, 2022
Commenting on the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was born in Kryvyi Rih, said the dam had no military value and damaging it was an attempt to attack the city’s residents. “That is another reason why Russia will lose. You are weak people waging war against civilians. Villains who, having fled the battlefield, try to harm distant people ».
In this last sentence, Zelenskyy refers to the events of the last few days in north-eastern Ukraine, where an unexpectedly quick and effective counter-offensive enabled the Ukrainian army to retake many Russian-held areas and forced them to retreat. .
Dam in Kryvyi Rih destroyed by Russian missiles today. The water in the Inhulets River is still rising. Russian propagandists praise the attack on critical civilian infrastructure. Russia is undoubtedly a terrorist state. pic.twitter.com/EijD0P0Wge
– Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) September 14, 2022
At the moment, the Russian authorities have not commented on the attack, but it would not be the first time that Russia has attacked civilian infrastructure to create trouble for Ukraine. For example, last week a Russian bombing raid hit and destroyed the power grid infrastructure that supplies Enerhodar, a town near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, causing a prolonged power outage, while the Russian army bombed various infrastructures in the east of the country after Ukraine’s counter-offensive, leaving thousands again back from people without light and heating.
– Also read: Zelensky in the liberated city of Izyum