Russia is plotting to destroy a key Ukrainian dam to flood the port city of Kherson before using it as a cover to retreat, a think-tank has claimed.
Moscow would then pin the blame on Kyiv in a "false flag" attack that would provide a distraction from Moscow's recent battlefield humiliation.
Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, Russia's new war commander in Ukraine, spoke to Russian media this week about plans for a "devastating strike" on the Nova Kakhovka dam which he said was being plotted by Putin's troops.
He alleged it would cause destructive flooding in Kherson.
Volodymyr Saldo, the Russian-appointed puppet governor of the city, also accused Ukrainian forces of planning to destroy a major dam at the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power station - without citing evidence.
"The Ukrainian side is building up forces for a large-scale offensive," he said.
"There is an immediate danger of flooding... due to the planned destruction of the Kakhovka dam and the release of water from a cascade of power plants further up the Dnipro."
Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War have raised the alarm and concluded this is likely preparation for a false-flag attack that would cover Russia's retreat and prove a distraction from its latest battlefield humiliation.
Breaching the dam would be another blow to Ukraine's struggling energy grid, as civilians are preparing for four-hour blackouts starting on Thursday after a third of the country's power plants were blown up in a little over a week.
The Institute Study of War said: "Russian authorities are likely urging a warning about purported Ukrainian strikes on Kakhovka to set information conditions for Russian forces to damage the dam.
"Then [they will] blame Ukraine for the subsequent damage and loss of life, all while using the resulting floods to cover their own retreat further south into Kherson Oblast."
It also says this could be another way that the Kremlin are covering up its humiliating defeat.
A false-flag attack will overshadow the news of a third humiliating retreat for Russian forces from western Kherson.
"Such an attack would also further the false Russian information operation portraying Ukraine as a terrorist state that deliberately targets civilians", the think tank continued.
When in reality Russia has been raining a barrage of missiles and suicide drones to attack Ukraine's vital civilian infrastructure and commit war crimes, under international law.
In an evening address, Ukrainian President Voldomyr Zelensky warned that "Russian terror will be directed at energy facilities."
He said that the government was "working on the creation of mobile power supply points for critical infrastructure in cities and villages."
