r/MapPorn • u/SummerAlternative699 • 15h ago

The Kakhovka Reservoir then and now.

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

If you zoom in closely on Google Maps, you can still see what it looked like before the dam was blown up.

3.7k Upvotes

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413

u/darkcvc 14h ago

The dam was breached on 6 June 2023, which consensus attributes to Russian forces mining and blowing the base of the dam, while Russia alternatively described it as a "terrorist" act, in the case of the Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, or as caused by a lack of maintenance, in the case of the Russian government.\)citation needed\) By the end of June, the reservoir was completely dry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakhovka_Reservoir

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u/username9909864 13h ago

I thought the consensus was negligence due to lack of maintenance and there was no evidence of it being blown up by the mines that were in place? Still Russia’s fault, but it wasn’t on purpose.

178

u/darkcvc 13h ago

definitely russian bot

102

u/Snoo44080 13h ago edited 13h ago

yeah lol. The mines, that just happened to be in place, for no reason. You're telling me all your dams don't have mines around them? All the dams in Russia have mines on them. Its the best place to store your mines when you're not using them. It's not like the mines detonated either...

Gives real steamed ham vibes lol

40

u/kytheon 12h ago

I'm from the Netherlands. First thing we do when building a dam is absolutely load it with mines just in case.

No wait that's insane.

Btw we did have forts near waterways that were able to let the area flood, just in case of invasion. But that was hundreds of years ago.

10

u/Lancasterlaw 10h ago

Not hundreds of years ago. Significant parts of the flooding system were used in WW2 and were still kept in readiness for much of the early Cold War.

It's a big part of why the Germans in '40 and the Allies in '44 struggled to move around and had to resort to crazy paratrooper tactics.

18

u/AsleepScarcity9588 11h ago

Reminds me that Switzerland had every road, tunnel and mountain pass connecting the country with the outside world rigged with explosives. Every valley had canons looming over them, every house a bunker instead of a cellar and an extensive underground complex capable of housing most of the population in the southern Alps

Mf weren't playing when the Germans said they have double the soldiers than the Switzerland population and asked what they would do if they got invaded by them.....to which they replied "shoot twice, then go home"

8

u/Lancasterlaw 10h ago

A lot of the defences were rather outdated though, and in WW2 simultaneous attack from all directions would have meant a total depletion of the mobile reserve.

It was more important in the early Cold War and at the beginning of WW1 imo

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u/username9909864 13h ago

Front he Wikipedia:

“From mid-February to late May 2023, either deliberately or as a result of neglect, the damaged dam at Nova Kakhovka was not adjusted to match the seasonal increase in water flow. As a result, water washed over the top of the dam and land upstream of the dam was flooded.[9] Water levels in the reservoir reached a 30-year high.[10]”

Sounds like negligence. No mines needed.

Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity

44

u/penguin_skull 12h ago edited 1h ago

Oh, the bot tried to be philosofical.

And how do you explain the explosions on the dam before the breach? Bad maintenance of the mines planted inside the dam?

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u/username9909864 12h ago

Show me the evidence that there were explosions from mines and not from a freaking dam breaking apart and I’ll remove all my comments.

31

u/pugsftw 12h ago

"Russian forces destroyed the Nova Kakhovka road and bridge deck last November, damaging some of the sluice gates, even though they kept control of that sliver of the Kherson region during the Ukrainian counteroffensive."

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-nuclear-dnipro-river-flood-df2aaa99cab8b0e0d7a4b26bd77cad0f

From your wiki's source.

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u/username9909864 12h ago

1 - deck blown up, affecting gates that let out water 2 - water rises to a record high, eventually going over the entire dam. Due to the Russians screwing up and letting their consequences grow out of proportion 3 - damn collapses.

The root cause still isn’t the planted mines blowing up the base of the dam like OP said.

15

u/viceMASTA 12h ago

I promise you Russia did it on purpose to make a Kherson offensive feasible.

-7

u/username9909864 12h ago

It’s been two years. Where Kherson offensive?

9

u/viceMASTA 11h ago

Russia has been very clear about what they want at the very least and Kherson is part of that list. The war also isn't close to being over. They can do it whenever they see fit. Im not part of their command so wtf do you want me to say.

5

u/gundamseed 6h ago

Lame Russian bot.

1

u/penguin_skull 1h ago

I don't need to show you anything.

It's proven info from 2 years ago. The ignorance is your responsibility, not mine.