I am writing an article about this. The Russians spent a lot of time and trillions of Rubles rebuilding and sustaining Crimea - now Crimea - the jewel of Putin's great Russian Empire - is worse off than ever. The home of the vaunted Black Sea Fleet is without water.

I just don't see why they would shoot themselves in the foot.

But then, we are always being told that the "crazy" Russians just have a predilection for destroying their own infrastructure: they blew up the Nord Stream pipeline; they blew up the Kerch Strait Bridge, they blew up the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, and so on.

On the other hand, the Kakhovka tragedy happens just as the Ukrainian counteroffensive is underway, and it is not going well for Ukraine. Kherson and Crimea are Russian - they are expendable, and if it serves to get Zelensky a new round of funding - or at least buy him some time - then they will have served their purpose.