Why the dam’s destruction may have been just a prelude to Putin Man dies after shark attack in Egypt

An elderly man is in a lifeboat. He looks exhausted under his white and blue cap – but also relieved. “We did it!” shouts one of the volunteers who rescued the Ukrainian from the flooded area near Kherson. The helper wants to know how old he is. “93,” says the man, smiling at the shaky camera. He has already survived one war, he says, now he must survive a second. Then comes the Russian attack.

When the camera fades in again, the older man is holding his head. His bloody hat lies on the floor. The blood flows between his fingers. A piece of shrapnel hit him. Under Russian fire, the helpers run ashore. They hoist the man out of the boat. He survives the attack. The helpers too. Seven Ukrainians are injured in the action.

Russia shoots at people trying to escape the flood disaster after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. A catastrophe for which Russia is responsible.

Whether the occupiers deliberately blew up the dam in response to the incipient Ukrainian counter-offensive or whether it was breached through negligence is ultimately immaterial. The Russians dug the dam, demolishing it with the terrible consequences for the people of Ukraine was always an option and was at least accepted by Putin’s troops. Now entire villages have been destroyed, hundreds of people have died and thousands have fled.

Destroying a nuclear power plant would have even worse consequences

A dam as a weapon of mass destruction: even the terrorist organization IS in Iraq did not go that far. The Islamists could have blown up a dam over the city of Mosul, causing countless deaths, French water and military expert Franck Galland said in an interview with CH Media this week.

As we have known with certainty this week, Vladimir Putin does not shy away from such measures. The lesson is clear: if the Kremlin boss fails to take control of Ukraine, he has few qualms about destroying it.

The worst is to be feared for the further course of the war. Against the background of the dam explosion, the constant ignition at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant seems even more menacing than it already is. Blowing up Europe’s largest nuclear power plant would have even worse consequences than the collapse of the dam at Kherson.

All this leads to only one conclusion: put an end to Putin’s insane war. The Russian president’s best-known opponent, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, summed it up this week at the Swiss Economic Forum in Interlaken: “The only way to end this war is to win it.” The sooner the better.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive that has now been rolled out will be decisive for this. This will entail losses. Devices supplied by the West will also be destroyed. It is all the more important that arms deliveries continue at a rapid pace. Only then can the offensive be a success. Until then, the terror against the Ukrainian people will continue. (aargauerzeitung.ch)