russians are relocating their most combat-ready units from the Kherson sector. This primarily refers to the subdivisions of the marine infantry, airborne troops and the 49th Army.
The Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Hanna Malyar, reported this on her Telegram channel.
Therefore, as Malyar emphasized, the purpose of the russians blowing up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant becomes apparent.
"Considering their own losses and limited reserves, thus understanding the inability to withstand the Ukrainian advance in different directions, the command of the russian occupation forces decided to 'narrow' the possible geography of active actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Maliar noted.
According to her, the russians presumably blew up the Kakhovka HPP with the intent of preventing the Ukrainian Defence Forces' advance in the Kherson direction. Due to this, they hoped to free up necessary reserves for their relocation to the Zaporizhia and Bakhmut axes.
In addition to this, Maliar believes that by destroying the Kakhovka HPP, russian leadership is attempting to distract a portion of the Ukrainian Defence Forces' strength and resources to manage the technological disaster, thereby making it impossible to liberate the occupied territories on the left-bank part of Kherson Oblast.
Background. The most likely cause of the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovka HPP on the Dnieper River was an explosion from the inside using a powerful charge. The fact that the russian troops, who control the hydroelectric power station, had mined it, was claimed by Ukraine last October. On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky accused russia of mining and blowing up the hydroelectric station, calling it the "detonation of a bomb of massive ecological impact."