Nova Kakhovka dam

US satellite image targeting the Kakhovka dam. Destruction of the dam would kill 250,000 civilians in living in Kherson.

The Nova Kakhovka dam was a major dam built in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1956. It was destroyed by NATO and the neo-fascist Zelensky regime war planners in June 2023 during the NATO war in Ukraine.

An anonymous team of hackers “Joker DPR” published a batch of secret NATO documents which they retrieved after hacking the notorious US DELTA military command and control system. The documents confirmed that the Kakhovka dam was targeted. The satellite imagery of the dam was provided by the US intelligence. Destruction of the dam would endanger the lives of 250,000 civilians below the dam, mostly in the city of Kherson.

On July 11, 2022, seven civilians were killed with missiles fired by U.S.-supplied HIMAR launchers in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson Republic. More than 80 others were injured, including at least 15 children. A fertilizer warehouse with potassium nitrate was attacked. Food supplies were also destroyed. More than 1,800 employees of industrial and commercial institutions lost their jobs as a result of the attack, and 37 residential homes were destroyed. The AFU attack was coordinated with the US military. The American satellite Worldview-2 filmed Nova Kakhovka three days before the strike. On July 20 the Ukrainians launched 12 HIMAR missiles attempting to knock out the Nova Kakhovka Dam railway bridge.

Beginning on August 5, 2022, the 44th brigade of the AFU stationed in Nikopol, 18 kilometers across the Dnieper River, increased shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear plant with US M777 Howitzers. Kiev forces used a British-made Brimstone missile in one of the attacks. The situation was compounded by HIMAR attacks on the hydroelectric plant at the Nova Kakhovka dam, which provides electricity for the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant's vital cooling system. On August 22 Ukrainian forces continued bombing attacks on the Nova Kakhovka dam.

On October 18, 2022, the AFU/NATO launched a US-made High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) and hit the Energia stadium in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, killing two civilians and injuring others. In a late-night TV address a Kherson official called for people to "evacuate the city as quickly as possible" and said Ukraine "will begin an offensive on the city of Kherson very soon." Approximately 50,000-60,000 civilians were being ferried across the Dnieper river. Russian Commander of the Integrated Group of Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergey Surovikin told reporters, "The NATO command of the armed forces of Ukraine has long been demanding offensive operations in the Kherson direction from the Kiev regime, regardless of any casualties – both in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and among the civilian population. The Russian military is aware of Kiev’s plans to use “prohibited” means of waging war in the Kherson area, and Ukraine is preparing a massive strike on the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant, located on the Dnieper River, as well as launching massive rocket and artillery attacks on Kherson itself."

On October 21, 2023 October Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzya accused Kiev of a “monstrous provocation” involving the use of up to 120 missiles and shells daily over a five-month period against the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and dam, warning that if the dam was destroyed, it could lead to thousands of civilian casualties, and untold damage to local civilian infrastructure along the Dnepr. Nebenzya’s warnings were ignored.

A Russian computer simulation anticipated the effects of NATO/Ukraine's planned destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam across the Dnieper river on the city of Kherson and surrounding environs all the way to the river's mouth on the Black Sea. The territory is the home of some 300,000 civilians. The simulation anticipated a rise in the river's level of 1.5 meters, with a cresting wave of 4.5 meters. The water would take at least 3 days to recede during which time the NATO/Ukrainian offensive toward what was formally the city of Kherson would commence.

Russian simulation of the effects of NATO/Ukraine destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on the city of Kherson (pop. 300,000) with a UK-built underwater drone.

On November 9, 2022, Gen. Sergey Surovikin announced, with the approval of Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, the withdrawal of Russian forces from the west bank of Dnieper river to include the city of Kherson. More than 115,000 civilians had been evacuated from the city and surrounding territories in recent weeks. The general pointed to continued Ukrainian attacks on the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on the Dnieper river, arguing that it could mean the total devastation of the city and isolation of Russian troops in the region. “If the Kiev regime … launches an even more devastating attack on the Kakhovskaya dam, a flow of water could arise that would flood large areas, causing significant civilian casualties." This, according to the commander, “would create further threats for civilians and risk total isolation of our force grouping on the right bank of the Dnieper.” A pullout would help avoid the worst-case scenario and also keep the combat effectiveness of the force grouping in the area, Surovikin said. "This is a very difficult decision. Yet, we would be able to preserve the most important thing: the lives of our soldiers." Minister Shoigu ordered the general to organize secure relocation for both soldiers and civilians. With the HIMAR systems being under American control, Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan negotiated a deal with his Russian counterparts, Nikolai Patrushev and Yuri Ushakov, to allow for the withdrawal of Russian forces without being fired upon. By November 11, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the evacuation had been completed successfully.

The Washington Post reported former commander of the Kherson counteroffensive Major General Andrey Kovalchuk admitting to planning this shocking war crime against civilian infrastructure:

"Kovalchuk considered flooding the river. The Ukrainians, he said, even conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates at the Nova Kakhovka dam, making three holes in the metal to see if the Dnieper’s water could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages. The test was a success, Kovalchuk said, but the step remained a last resort. He held off.”

On June 5, 2023 the forces of NATO/Ukraine breached the dam.