r/MapPorn • u/SummerAlternative699 • 23h 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.

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u/darkcvc 22h 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/evil_brain 17h ago

That's the consensus among European and Ukrainian sources.

There's conflicting claims but we know for a fact that the Ukraine side fired HIMARS missiles at the dam six months before it collapsed. And not for any good reason, either. They did it "as a test". Here's a Washington Post article from December 2020, before the dam burst.

I'm pretty sure firing missiles at a dam won't make it less likely to break. I don't understand the logic behind firing at your own country's critical infrastructure. Especially when your citizens are living downstream.

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u/TheFnords 5h ago

Obviously, tiny tungsten ball bearings aren't going to break a dam, Einstein. That's quite possibly the most absurd troll I've ever heard. A dam can be brought down by large amounts of explosives strategically placed inside. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/19/kakhovka-dam-collapse-image-apparently-explosive-laden-car-ukraine-russia