Experts, analysts and military acknowledged in their interview with the program "Beyond the News" that the explosion of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine will have repercussions regardless of who is responsible for its implementation, and expected that this will affect the course of the war, and Kiev's readiness for its counterattack, which has been much talked about recently.

From the Russian point of view, the expert in military and international affairs, Alexander Artamonov, ruled out Russia's involvement in the bombing of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, arguing that it has no interest in that, especially since the dam is under its control, accusing Ukraine of bombing the dam several times and with "Himars missiles", which he said could not be confused with Russian missiles.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of responsibility for blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam in Kherson in southern Ukraine. While Moscow confirmed that the Ukrainian army bombed the dam, also destroying a nearby hydroelectric power plant, with the aim of depriving Crimea of water, Kiev responded that the Russians blew up the dam to disrupt their planned counteroffensive.

The Russian guest said in his speech to the episode (2023/6/6) of the program "Beyond the News" that the Nova Kakhovka Dam was not destroyed, but a hole was formed inside it, and that the water that flows as a result could drown the Ukrainian and Russian sides, referring to the Russian forces in the Moscow-controlled city.

The city of Nova Kakhovka fell to Russian forces in the early hours of their offensive on Ukraine in February 2022, and includes the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam. The dam is located on the Dnipro River, which provides water to cool the Russian-occupied Zaporizhye nuclear plant, the largest in Europe.

On the impact of the dam bombing on the Ukrainian counterattack, Artamonov revealed that this attack has already begun, but without success, speaking about the loss of Ukrainian forces of 1500,30 of its personnel and <> tanks, in addition to the fact that Kiev does not have ammunition, aircraft or real tanks to use in its counterattack.

Counterattack

On the other hand, Oleksiy Melnik, a former Ukrainian assistant defense minister, denied that Ukraine had begun the counterattack, saying that it determines the areas targeted by the main strikes, and will show its capabilities in this area, citing the advance of its forces last year in Kherson and Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine at the expense of Russian forces.

He acknowledged that the bombing of the Nova Kakhovka dam, which he described as an unprecedented disaster, causes a major problem for Ukraine and will make it have to divert its sources to save citizens, accusing the Russian side of responsibility for the bombing with the aim of harming the Ukrainian regime.

Regarding the chances of de-escalation in light of the international movement and the call for the UN Security Council to convene, the Ukrainian guest stressed that his country sees no way out at the moment except to continue the battles, defeat Russia on most of the battlefronts, liberate Crimea and reach the Sea of Azov.

As for the Russian expert, he believes that all the cards were mixed up on the Ukrainian military.

In a military reading of the ongoing escalation between Kiev and Moscow, the military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, suggested that the Russian side was responsible for the explosion of the Nova Kakhovka Dam, given the benefit and capability, and also given that all readings and analyzes indicate that the Kherson region will be one of the directions of the Ukrainian counterattack, and therefore flooding the land with water will be an obstacle to Ukrainian forces.

Douiri said that things have become more complicated on the Ukrainian side, which will force Ukraine in light of the new developments to reassess the situation and change the general frameworks of the counterattack plan, which has been talked about for some time.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Kiev was ready for a counter-operation, but declined to give any predictions. He told the Wall Street Journal: "Frankly, it can go down different and varied paths. But we will do it and we are ready for it."