On the strikes at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The information about mining of the dam and hydraulic engineering installations of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (Kakhovka HPP) by the Ukrainian troops first appeared as early as on 15 September 2014. The reports by the Voenkor.Info agency indicated that military engineers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine started to plant engineer ammunition at these facilities in order to prevent their takeover by «separatists» of Novorossiya.
The Russian military took control of the Kakhovka HPP on first day of the special military operation, 24 February 2022. There were no hostilities in the area of the dam. While retreating, Ukrainian military engineers mined only flood-gate mechanisms of the North Crimean Canal. The explosion was prevented.
In summer 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine started to shell the city of Novaya Kakhovka and the HPP on a regular basis.
On 11 July 2022, the HPP was hit with MLRS HIMARS.
On 18 July 2022, a shipping lock gate operator booth was destroyed by a strike at the HPP.
On 24 July 2022, the plant was shelled by MLRS HIMARS .
On 26 July 2022, the dam of the HPP was impacted by large-caliber projectiles.
On the night of 29 July to 30 July 2022, another MLRS HIMARS strike against the HPP was carried out.
On 5 August 2022, the HPP suffered massive shelling. Strikes were launched from MLRS HIMARS, MRLS Vilkha, and tactical missile complex Tochka-U.
On 7 August 2022, the HPP was hit with MLRS HIMARS.
On 9 August 2022, the dam of the HPP suffered another shelling.
On 12 August 2022, as a result of shelling, three out of six turbines of the plant were disabled. The HPP was switched to emergency mode (half of project capacity).
On 18 August 2022, large-caliber projectiles targeted the dam of the HPP.
On 19 August 2022, the plant was shelled with MLRS Vilkha and tactical missile complex Tochka.
On 21 August 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a missile strike against the HPP.
On 24 August 2022, the Kakhovka Plant was subjected to massive MLRS HIMARS shelling.
On 27 August 2022, the HPP was hit with MLRS Vilkha and tactical missile complex Tochka.
On 28 August 2022, the dam of the HPP suffered a missile strike with MLRS HIMARS.
On 29 August 2022, the HPP was once again shelled with MLRS HIMARS.
On 30 August 2022, there was a missile strike against the HPP.
On 1 September 2022, the HPP was shelled with MLRS HIMARS.
On 2 September 2022, the HPP was targeted with large-caliber projectiles.
On 5 September 2022, the plant suffered a missile strike.
On 6 September 2022, another MLRS HIMARS strike against the HPP took place.
On 8 September 2022, the regional authorities reported artillery shelling of the HPP and roads leading to the facility.
On 10 September 2022, a strike was launched from MLRS HIMARS against Novaya Kakhovka and the HPP. The dam was not hit.
On 18 October 2022, the Commander of the special military operation Sergei Surovikin reported that the Antonovka bridge and the dam of the Kakhovka HPP were damaged after HIMARS shellings.
On 21 October 2022, Russia circulated a letter in the UN Security Council calling to prevent a Ukrainian provocation against the Kakhovka HPP.
On 24 October 2022, the HPP and civilian infrastructure in the area of Novaya Kakhovka was hit with MLRS HIMARS and Vilkha.
On 6 November 2022, the HPP was shelled with 6 HIMARS missiles. One of them hit and damaged the flood-gate of the dam.
On 17 November 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine command announced the Ukrainian troops to have reached the right bank of the Dnieper along its entire length, including the area of the Kakhovka HPP.
Overall, during the summer and fall of 2022, the total of more than 300 missiles were launched from MLRS HIMARS alone against the Kakhovka HPP.
On 29 December 2022, the Washington Post quoted Major General of the Armed Forced of Ukraine Andrey Kovalchuk who was in command of the Ukrainian troops in Kherson Oblast as follows: «The Ukrainians conducted
a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates at the Nova Kakhovka dam, making three holes in the metal to see if the Dnieper’s water could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages. The test was a success». The date of the strike was not mentioned.
On 14 March 2023, the head of Novokakhovsky district Vladimir Leontyev stated that the HPP is not only regularly shelled, but there are also regular attempts to penetrate its territory and dam undertaken by sabotage and reconnaissance units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to him, there is also sniper activity that makes it impossible to conduct repair and maintenance works at the hydraulic engineering installations.
Such systematic attacks against the HPP by the Armed Forces of Ukraine led to destruction of its constructions and uncontrolled water release from the Kakhovka Reservoir down the Dnieper river that started on 6 June 2023.
