Putin hides his decisions from the general public. Analysts discovered a “softened” martial law in place in Crimea

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the Russians have undermined a hydroelectric dam in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region and plan to carry out a “false flag” terrorist attack.

If the dam is destroyed, more than 80 localities will be flooded, warns the leader from Kyiv.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has restricted the use of electricity nationwide following missile and drone attacks on the national grid.

And White House officials warn that Iran has sent soldiers to Crimea to help the Kremlin’s military operate Tehran-supplied drones.

The Russians continue their attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure unabated. There were 300 strikes in ten days, according to the Ukrainian government. A thermal plant in a town near Kiev was bombed with rockets and the damages are “quite serious”, according to the governor of the region. And Washington officials warn that more Iranian soldiers are “on the ground in Crimea” to help Russian forces launch new drone attacks in Ukraine.

State Department spokesman Ned Price: “Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea assisting Russia in these operations. The truth is they (the Russians) don’t have the ability to produce or import the key systems they need. So they go to Iran and make arrangements with North Korea.”

However, Ukrainian air defense intercepted at least one of the launched cruise missiles.

Zelensky: “233 (Iranian-made) Shahed drones and dozens of Russian missiles have been shot down so far this month.”

On the other hand, Ukraine is restricting the use of electricity nationwide for the first time, following the avalanche of Russian missile and drone attacks that hit power distribution centers and power plants just before the arrival of winter.

CNN’s Nic Robertson: “There will be power restrictions here in the city, in the capital there will be areas without power for parts of the day. In Sumi, another city north of here, there is no water and they will also have restricted power supply. The public lighting, on the side of the roads, will not work. And, we understand that in other cities in the country, electric trolleybuses will also be restricted.”

The evacuation of the inhabitants of the Kherson region, from the western bank of the Dnieper River, to the other bank continues. By ferries, because all the bridges over the river are destroyed or damaged.

Woman: “The situation is getting more and more worrying day by day. I postponed (departing) until the last moment hoping that everything will be resolved.”

Woman: “I’m worried. I’m scared, but hopefully everything will be fine.”

Western intelligence estimates that the Russians are planning to leave the city of Kherson and other territories in the region in the face of Ukrainian attacks. Going to organize his defense on the other bank of the Dnieper, the one on the eastern side.

Zelensky: “We have information that Russian terrorists have mined the dam and the units of the Kahovka hydroelectric plant. This is one of the big power plants. The dam of this hydroelectric plant holds about 18 million cubic meters of water. If the Russian terrorists blow up this dam, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be covered by waters.”

In addition to the martial law imposed in the four regions occupied and illegally annexed by Russia, Putin also instituted other more drastic security measures. Among them is the restriction of movement in the Russian regions near the borders of Ukraine. Including in Crimea, which has been annexed since 2014. And analysts have discovered a kind of “softened” martial law there, which allows the introduction of curfews, control of population movement, temporary displacement measures and the right to impose a militarized regime on certain industries. Moreover, the leader in the Kremlin granted additional authority to the leaders of all Russian provinces to maintain public order and increase production in support of Moscow’s war.

Instead, in Russia, in a city in the center of the country, military commanders took part in the funeral and praised the bravery of Evgheni Bizyaev, a reservist mobilized last month and who died a few days later, on the front in Ukraine. He was 28 years old.

Oleg Valiev, soldier: “Today we say goodbye to our comrade, a true marine, who, in difficult times for the whole country, chose the hard way, the defense of the ancestral homeland.”

Another Russian recruit was killed two days after arriving in a war zone in Ukraine, and just over a week after joining Moscow’s forces. Yarsolav Bulaev, only 24 years old, worked in a pawn shop before being drafted. His aunt says that during the short training period he only fired a gun with white bullets five times.

The Kremlin leader was also presented with the quality equipment with which the reservists would be sent to the front. All the while, more and more images of Russians complaining about being sent to the front without training continue to circulate on social media. And Putin’s visit to the troops comes just days after the training incident in Belgorod, where at least 11 Russian soldiers died in a firefight.