Russia uses terrorism as a tool of war. Its manifestations are very diverse: from large-scale missile and drone attacks on rear Ukrainian cities to the undermining of dams and the mining of chemical plants. On June 6, Russia created the biggest environmental disaster in Europe after 1986 by undermining the Kakhovka HPP dam — 600,000 square kilometers were underwater, hundreds of tons of oil entered the Black Sea through the Dnipro, a mass plague of fish and contamination of drinking water with sewage increased the risk of epidemics, including cholera. The Russian terrorist attack caused enormous damage to the ecosystem of the flooded areas — 95 thousand tons of fish died in the Kakhovka Reservoir, tens of thousands of birds died, and at least 150 cases of dolphin deaths are known, due to the harmful desalination of the Black Sea coastal waters. About 20,000 animals lived in the flood zone, many of which could not be saved, and 50,000 hectares of forest remain flooded. There are growing indications that Russia is preparing even bigger and dangerous terrorist attacks: it could be an explosion at a chemical plant or at a nuclear power plant. In this case, the whole of Europe will turn into the zone of environmental disaster.
The deliberate undermining of the Kakhovka HPP caused the biggest environmental disaster in Europe in recent decades, the consequences of which will affect not only Ukraine, but also the countries of the Black Sea region: Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, etc. Russia is deliberately waging a global terrorist war, the goal of which is another attempt to sit down at the negotiating table with Ukraine and the West in order to freeze hostilities. Putin desperately needs a tactical pause to replenish military resources and carry out a further full-scale offensive against Ukraine. Another reason for Russia’s ecocide in Ukraine is the desire to stop the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces — for this, Russia is willing to blow up not only reservoir dams, but also chemical plants. So, on May 31 of this year, the Titan Chemical Plant in Armyansk (Crimea) was mined for carrying out another terrorist attack. Anyway, such Russia’s actions will entail victims and suffering among the civilian population not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe. Putin wants to get a tactical pause and is blackmailing the West with ecocide. If to succumb to the Kremlin’s bluff, Europe will get a war with Russia in the near future, which will rearm and conduct another wave of mobilization.
Russia may resort to terrorist attacks on other Ukrainian hydropower plants upstream of the Dnieper. Russian propagandists live on the air calling for the detonation of the Kyiv HPP, noting that this terrorist attack would lead to huge casualties among the civilian population. Russia has become a country where, at the official level, they call for the genocide of another people. This is testing of the corresponding crimes against Europeans.
The most dangerous manifestation of Russian terror is the preparation for terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants. The draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir creates the risk of a radiation disaster at the ZNPP due to the shallowing of the nuclear reactors’ cooling ponds. Russia wants to carry out a “technical terrorist attack”, shifting the blame and accusing Ukraine of crimes committed by its own hands. If ZNPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, stops cooling, tens, if not hundreds, of millions of civilians in Ukraine and the EU will find themselves in the zone of a radiation disaster. Such a terrorist act would make it impossible to conduct active hostilities: Russia seeks to maintain control over the occupied territories of Ukraine, even at the cost of civilian lives.
The terrorist threat, the source of which has become Russia, affects the whole world. Putin will not stop: his army is rapidly weakening, but he is not ready for either peace or compromise. In this case, he uses chemical, radiation and environmental terror for blackmail and pressure. Europe is under threat: if Russia is not stopped today, tomorrow it will commit similar crimes in EU countries. The West should call for a boycott and isolation of the terrorist state, which, by committing ecological and nuclear terror, seeks to prepare for war with Europe.