The creation of the makeshift dam on the outskirts of Tokmak was reported by the investigative journalism group Bellingcat, according to the Ukrainska Pravda website.
New satellite imagery obtained by Bellingcat shows that the dam lies within the defensive line surrounding Tokmak, Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper reported.
Bellingcat wrote on Thursday: “Since the dam’s construction in early May, the Tokmachka river has widened significantly to the east of the city, and flooded some fields nearest to the dam.”
Raising the water levels of the Tokmachka river “could be part of a greater effort at slowing down advancing Ukrainian forces,” in particular “to slow down an eastern envelopment of Tokmak in the event of a Ukrainian breakthrough near the city,” according to Bellingcat.
Tokmak is “one of the key targets of the Ukrainian counteroffensive,” The Telegraph noted.
As Ukraine mounts its summer counteroffensive against Russia, there has been “a trend of deliberate flooding across Zaporizhzhia oblast by Russian forces,” the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection group said.
On June 6, the massive Kakhovka dam in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region broke, causing widespread flooding and immense damage, with more than 40 people dead or remaining missing, Bellingcat reported.
According to the New York Times, there is evidence that the Kakhovka dam’s destruction “was instigated by an inside explosion set off by Russia,” Bellingcat said.
Meanwhile, flooding from the dam in Tokmak is “not anywhere near the scale” seen in Kakhovka, Bellingcat added.
Russian shelling kills two in Ukraine’s Kherson
Russia shelled Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson on Thursday afternoon, killing two people and injuring two more, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
The casualties came when Russia hit a local school hosting a civilian refuge known as an “invincibility point,” The Telegraph reported.
Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on the Telegram social messaging app on Thursday: “In the afternoon, two occupiers fired at the ‘invincibility point’ in Kherson. The terrorists hit the place where civilians come to receive humanitarian aid. Two local people were killed and two more are in hospital in moderate condition.”
Residential buildings, a medical facility and a car were also struck by Russian shelling, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Friday is day 492 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Ukrainska Pravda, The Telegraph, Bellingcat, global.espreso.tv