One new “cold case” amid a hot war

After the explosions at the two Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, the next Cold Case amid the hot war between Russia and Ukraine has come with the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.

The notion of “Cold Cases” stands for events that have not been solved despite laborious and long investigations.

Kakhovka Dam. Photo: Maxar

After the explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines from Russia to Germany, the next Cold Case amid the hot war between Russia and Ukraine came with the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in the Kherson Oblast. Both are Cold Cases because questions like the real truth about how they happened and who is responsible for them would never be answered.

Ukraine and Russia blamed each other like before concerning the explosive attacks against the two pipeline systems. Like in the previous Cold Case, unilateral or multilateral, or international investigations will be carried out, but either they won’t be succeeded or their final results won’t be published. Nowadays, nothing is impossible, and everything can happen in hot wars.

Whoever stood behind the destruction of this big dam, both Russia and Ukraine, could benefit from it. It will now be much more difficult for Ukraine to carry out military counteroffensives along the Dnipro riverfront line. Russia is getting more serious problems with making it plausible that it can maintain security and stability in the Ukrainian territories it administrates. But for the people and nature in the flooded regions, the situation is catastrophic. Russia and Ukraine now have to pay very high prices for emergency relief and reconstruction in the flooded areas.

Whoever is the mastermind of this incident, the true victims are people on both sides of the river and the ecological environment. The war between Russia and Ukraine in Ukraine has gotten a new face and expression. And it is a bad, dark, and thirty-face. And it is a horrifying expression.

Whatever the truth is in this story, it doesn’t matter that nothing can justify actions that cause human catastrophes and ecological disasters, even in times of hot wars. Politics have to save and serve humane lives and preserve the living environment of people on the Earth, and not aim to destroy them.

Both the Cold Case, the Nord Stream pipeline systems, and the Kakhovka Dam implied escalations of the war and sanctifications of all possible means for the war in Ukraine. They inhabited the awakening message and demanded enhanced efforts to quickly find political and peaceful solutions to end the war in Ukraine.

Disclaimer: The views expressed by Ambassador Tran Duc Mau are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Hanoi Times.