US had intelligence of Ukrainian plan to attack Nord Stream project
reuters.com
reuters.com
This particular report still strains credibility though. Capability-wise much more likely to be a US-backed operation. And the US gained the most from the situation.
https://twitter.com/tuckercarlson/status/1666203439146172419
> That said the Russian occupying forces wouldn't need the amount of water supplied by the canal
Crimea is very large. The black sea is salty.
The other possible reason is scorched earth - the parts of Ukraine the flood is affecting includes a lot of the area occupied by Russia.
BTW the WaPo has reported previously that Ukraine has rehearsed this course of action in the past: https://archive.is/KP8EQ
"Kovalchuk considered flooding the river. The Ukrainians, he said, even conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates at the Nova Kakhovka dam, making three holes in the metal to see if the Dnieper’s water could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages."
A distraction from something that hasn’t even started yet? Seems unlikely.
> if Russia did it, what did they gain?
They stopped Ukraine from passing nearby in the counter offensive and they have destroyed Ukrainian agricultural resources for decades to come.
They get to displace and terrorise more civilians which is a major Russian tactic in pretty much all wars they conduct.
They are going scorched earth because they are preparing to leave and want to do as much damage as possible on their way out.