The waves pouring from the ripped Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper are a reminder that red lines can never be crossed with impunity. The fighting that regularly jeopardizes the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is of the same order.

It is unfortunately futile, at this stage, to claim to certify the sequence of events that led to the dam's collapse. The Geneva Conventions grant immunity in principle to those "works or installations containing dangerous forces", those which can no longer be controlled once the genie is out of its bottle.