of the river are now in a critical zone. for their part russian officials are down playing the impact of all of this saying that there is no threat. let s get the latest from the ground, cnn s sam kiley is in kharkiv, ukraine, for us. what s the latest that you re hearing about all of this? reporter: well, kate, i can tell you that we ve been in touch with the ukrainian sources on the ground in a position to know and they are saying that the russian troops opposite kherson city, in other words, the troops that have been based there manning artillery positions, tank positions, tiring into kherson and other villages did not know that this was going to be a flood. the sources are saying that the russians that they saw were flooded out, their trenches overwhelmed. they saw russians abandoning military locations and it was clear to them at least that the russians had no idea that this flood was coming their way. now, we don t have independent
military analyst cedric leighton. and we still don t know who was responsible. but what do we know? so big thing here, this particular dam which really is this area right here, and it is right at this bend in the dnipro river. we know russian forces have been deployed along this line and also up in this area. what the flooding does, it moves artillery positions away from there, they are unusable at this point. and if they save them, russians can move it over this way. it also allows the russians to move forces in here so that they can possibly respond to any ukrainian moves across this way. and so that is the thing we know about this so far. as far as the actual dam is concerned, we believe that there was a lot of infrastructure issues with this, so it could have been a, quote, naturally occur events but it could also have been sabotaged. but there are key elements there
are a crucial part of russia s effort to fortify the entire front line. that process has been documented by the open source analyst brady africk. all of these black dots here mark new russian fortifications. let s focus on a couple of locations. first of all, tokmak. it s a small city, but it s strategically important. you can see it at the bottom of this satellite image. further north would be where the ukrainian positions are. and look what the russians have done. they ve built one new defensive line, a second one behind it, and then a third one around the city. we also know that in ukrainian media there are reports that civilians are being removed from tokmak in order that the russians can further fortify it. and to understand all of these fortifications, looking at these types of satellite images is also used. images is also useful. here, furthest from the front line, you have artillery positions. then the trench network for the soldiers to use. then what are called dragon s teeth.
the ukrainian positions are. and look what the russians have done. they ve built one new defensive line, a second one behind it, and then a third one around the city. we also know that in ukrainian media there are reports that civilians are being removed from tokmak in order that the russians can further fortify it. and to understand all of these fortifications, looking at these types of satellite images is also useful. here, furthest from the front line, you have artillery positions. then the trench network for the soldiers. then what are called dragon s teeth. these are concrete obstacles the russians are using in the hope of stopping ukrainian tanks. tanks are also the focus of these enormous ditches, produced by these digging vehicles. and if we go back to this satellite image you can see the first line of defence is an anti tank ditch. so that s one location. this is a second one that bbc verify has looked at. on the peninsular of crimea, which was annexed by russia in 2014. this
are a crucial part of russia s effort to fortify the entire front line. that process has been documented by the open source analyst brady africk. all these black dots here mark new russian fortifications. let s focus on a couple of locations. first of all, tokmak. it s a small city, but it s strategically important. you can see it at the bottom of this satellite image. further north would be where the ukrainian positions are. and look what the russians have done. they ve built one new defensive line, a second one behind it, and then a third one around the city. we also know that in ukrainian media there are reports that civilians are being removed from tokmak in order that the russians can further fortify it. and to understand all of these fortifications, looking at these types of satellite images is also useful. here, furthest from the front line, you have artillery positions. then the trench network for the soldiers. then what are called dragon s teeth. these are concrete obstacles t