2023-06-06 18:58:30
The Eastern Europe expert Åslund sees the blasting of the Kakhovka dam in Cherson as a new phase in the Ukraine war.
Kiev – Flooded villages, lack of drinking water and motor oil in the Dnipro River: The Blow up of the Kachowka dam in the Ukraine is a catastrophe for the population and the environment. Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks of a “new dimension” of war. After many setbacks Russia are now proceeding with increased aggression against Ukraine and are increasingly targeting civilian targets, said Scholz on WDR. The economist and Eastern Europe expert Anders Åslund from Sweden takes a similar view.
With the dam blowing up by Russia war against Ukraine entered a new phase, Åslund wrote on Twitter. Originally, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plan was to completely take over Ukraine and not destroy its infrastructure. In another tweet, Åslund wrote that Russia is now solely trying to annihilate Ukraine and its people and has “abandoned” the original goal.
Åslund after dam blast: West can do more
Åslund apparently expects a reaction from the West to this “new phase”. He continues: “Can the West really stand by without interfering? There’s so much more the West can do.” So far, it’s unclear who was behind the blast. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the incident. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Selenskyj also called on the West to take even tougher action against Moscow.
Åslund also warned that the Russian-held villages would be hit hardest by the floods. In addition, no water is now available for the Crimean Canal, which does not make the peninsula “unsustainable”. “By blowing up this dam, Putin gave up Crimea,” said the expert. The Russian ruler should better evacuate his troops, the Swede continued.
Many Western politicians blame Russia. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, for example, that there was only one culprit, and that was Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. With the Kachowka dam, a civilian dam near a nuclear power plant is being misused as a weapon of war and the lives of people in the area are being endangered, according to Baerbock.
Military Expert: Russia is blank
The military expert Christian Mölling also sees a weakness in Russia in the action. Mölling is deputy director of the research institute of the German Society for Foreign Relations. In the Interview with the daily news he said that Russia apparently does not have many options for action. Moscow is no longer in a position to “escalate in a classic military manner” and is “quite blank from a military point of view”.
Russia said Ukraine was behind the blast and wanted to cut off Crimea’s water supply. Moscow illegally annexed the Black Sea Peninsula in 2014. Kyiv denied the allegation. It is obvious that Russia is trying to slow down the Ukrainian counter-offensive and delay the end of the war.
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