What do we know about Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, attacked by Kiev forces?

The Kakhovka HPP is situated on the Dnepr River, five kilometers away from the city of Novaya Kakhovka in Russia's Kherson region. This is the sixth and lowest-situated of the cascade of HPPs on the huge waterway.

Power station capacity - 335 MW
Annual power Generation - 1.4 TWh (terawatt-hours)
3 out of 6 power units in operation
Reservoir volume: 18.19 km³
Surface area 2,155 km²
Number of staff (as of 2022) - 251 people.

Sputnik takes a closer look at the Kakhovka HPP, its importance for the region, and the attacks it has been under by Ukraine's forces

Fact check: Who attacked Novaya Kakhovka dam?

The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant suffered heavy damage Tuesday morning, with its dam destroyed and water flowing uncontrollably downstream, risking major flooding, power cuts and water shortages on both sides of the Dnepr River. Western legacy media quickly blamed Moscow for the attack.

But does that allegation make sense?

Sputnik explores

World Bank leaves Russia's growth forecast for 2023, 2024 unchanged

"Output in Russia is projected to contract slightly, by 0.2 percent in 2023, a 3.1 percentage point upgrade from the January 2023 forecast,” the World Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects report on Tuesday.

The bank expects that contractions in export, along with sanctions, weak domestic demand, and other challenges, will continue to apply pressure on economic activity.

“In 2024, growth is expected to turn positive, but remain modest at only 1.2 percent, which is lower than the average pace of growth in the 2010s,” the report added.

At the same time, the Russian economy will face less contraction than anticipated in January because of oil production, mainly due to more resilient than expected oil production and higher than expected growth momentum from 2022, according to the report.

The bank also noted that the continued flow of energy exports allowed Russia to improve the situation in its economy.

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Moscow to host 3rd Russia-Gulf Summit in July

"The third session of the strategic dialogue between Russia and the countries of the Persian Gulf will be held soon — in July in Moscow — with the indispensable participation of Kuwait," the new Russian Ambassador to Kuwait, Vladimir Zheltov told Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas.

Zheltov pointed to the continuation of the Russian-Kuwaiti political dialogue and the existence of a mechanism of political consultations between the two countries.

The ambassador presented his credentials to Kuwaiti Crown Prince Meshal AlJaber Al-Sabah in late May.

The first meeting of the strategic dialogue initiated in 2016 between Russia and Gulf Cooperation Council member states was held in Riyadh in 2017, and the second in Abu Dhabi in 2019.

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The Supreme Court of Sweden has greenlighted the extradition of a supporter of the Kurdistan Workers' Party to Turkiye

The Supreme Court has approved the first such extradition, Swedish newspaper reported. The Swedish government will now have to decide on the extradition.

A man aged 35 was arrested in Sweden in August 2022 at the request of the general prosecutor's office in the Turkish city of Adana, the report said.

The court's decision has been made shortly before the summit of NATO countries in Vilnius, which is scheduled for July 11-12, the newspaper reported.

Sweden, together with Finland, submitted its NATO bid in May 2022, several months after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine. Finland's application has been ratified by all 30 members of the alliance.

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🗣 Russia believes that Kiev carried out the attack on the Kakhovka HPP to regroup its forces and inflict humanitarian damage, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said.

▪️According to Nebenzia, Moscow regrets that the international community has not heeded its warnings about the threat of destruction by Ukraine of the Kakhovka HPP, and it places all responsibility for the tragedy regarding the plant on Kiev and the countries sponsoring it.

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📹 Combat work by T-80BV tank crews belonging to the Russian Armed Forces at the vanguard of the special military op

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🤔 Any fair person would conclude that Ukraine was responsible for the damage to the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant after reviewing evidence on the matter, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in the first episode of his new independent Twitter show

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⚡️ According to preliminary data, seven people have gone missing in the neighborhood of Novaya Kakhovka since the shelling of the hydroelectric power plant, the mayor of the city said

📹🤨 Why are we funding Ukraine?

▪️US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has spoken out against US policy regarding the Ukraine conflict, saying that she doesn’t understand how it is possible for Washington to urge Russia and Ukraine to come to the negotiation table while flooding the Kiev regime with weapons.

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A new constellation of spy satellites is to be launched by the US Space Force this summer

The classified "space situational awareness" program, “Silent Barker,” sometimes also written as “Silentbarker”, is described as a collaboration between the Air Force Space Command and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The network of satellites specially conceived to complement both, low-earth orbit satellites, and ground-based sensors, will be placed in geosynchronous orbit approximately 35,400 kilometers (22,000 miles) above Earth.

“This capability enables indications and warnings of threats” targeting high-value US systems and will “provide capabilities to search, detect, and track objects from space for timely threat detection,” the US Space Force was cited as saying in a statement.

The satellite constellation is to be launched on board an Atlas V booster sometime after July, with the exact date to be announced 30 days in advance on social media, added the NRO. The expendable launch system Atlas V, originally designed by Lockheed Martin, is currently operated by United Launch Alliance, which is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

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Romania will host a NATO battlegroup-supported multinational exercise on protection against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats

"The Resolute Eagle multinational chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense exercise will be held on Thursday, June 8, at the Joint National Training Center in [the commune of] Cincu, Brasov County," the Romanian National Defense ministry said on the website.

The exercise focuses on improving interoperability among NATO forces and building defense expertise. About 70 Romanian, French and Polish soldiers with 14 tactical vehicles will participate in the drills.

A French chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense platoon will be deployed to Cincu as part of a multinational battlegroup for the first time and will provide decontamination of personnel and equipment within the group.

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❗️ The upper chamber of the Russian Parliament has agreed to denounce the Treaty between Russia and Ukraine on cooperation in the use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.

The treaty was signed in 2003 and came into operation in 2004. According to the agreement, the Azov Sea and Kerch Strait are shared territorial waters.

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❗️ By damaging the Kakhovka HPP, the Kiev regime has committed a real ecocide after waste disposal facilities, cattle burial grounds and treatment plants were flooded, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko says

▪️Nizhnedneprovsky National Natural Park has also been flooded, killing thousands of animals - the scale of the catastrophe is huge, Novaya Kakhovka authorities say.

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📹 Combat work of Russian artillery units in the zone of the special military op

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⚡ The latest update on the sabotage of Kakhovka HPP:

▪️The shelling of the Kakhovka HPP dam has caused a threat of infection in Novaya Kakhovka as one of the cemeteries has been washed out. So far, chemical analysis complies with the standards;

▪️It will take at least a week for water in Novaya Kakhovka to subside;

▪️The authorities of the Kherson region took priority measures to help people after the sabotage at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power plant.

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Bulgarian new Defense Minister Todor Tagarev announced his intention to provide military assistance to Ukraine among his first statements

On Tuesday, the Bulgarian parliament approved the new government led by physicist and chemist Nikolai Denkov. The post of the defense minister was taken by military expert Todor Tagarev, who had led the Defense MInistry in March-May 2013.

In a speech following the parliamentary vote, Tagarev said his ministry intends to continue efforts to strengthen the country's defense capability.

"The second point is the contribution of our army to Black Sea security... We must help Ukraine continue its counteroffensive," the Bulgarian newspaper quoted the minister as saying.

Tagarev said the assistance should not harm the defense capability of Bulgaria.

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