2023-06-07 02:48:45
Moscow and Kiev blamed each other for the destruction of the Novokhovka dam in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region during an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday, June 7. The Ukrainian representative to the Security Council confirmed that the damage to the dam has not yet threatened the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. The situation is complicated but still within controllable range.
The destroyed dam on the Dnieper provides cooling water to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is currently controlled by the Russian military and is Europe’s largest.
Ukrainian representative Sergei Kislitsia confirmed that 11 of the 24 sections of the Kakhovka dam were destroyed and that 27 areas near the dam were being evacuated, accusing Russia of digging up the dam. dam and detonated from within.
Kislitzia also said there were indications that what he described as a “terrorist attack” on Kakhovka had been planned by Russia for some time, and called on the United Nations and aid agencies to help those affected by the flooding caused by the dam explosion .
Russia denies
On the other hand, Vasily Nebenja, Russia’s representative to the Security Council, denied Ukraine’s accusation and said that Kiev deliberately destroyed a very dangerous infrastructure.
Since last year, Ukrainian armed forces leaders have publicly declared their readiness to blow up the dam for military gain, he said. He also pointed to a coordinated disinformation campaign by the West and Kiev that Russia blew up the dam.
At the start of the Security Council meeting, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths warned that the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam had serious and far-reaching consequences for thousands of people in southern Ukraine.
He added that the full extent of the Kakhovka accident will be revealed in the next few days.
The U.S. deputy representative to the Security Council also stated that the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam triggered devastating floods that affected the lives of tens of thousands of people.
He added that the United States will support Ukraine’s self-defense and that Russia must end the human tragedy, noting that there are many dangers in blowing up the dam, the most prominent being the nuclear safety of Zaporozhye.
huge destruction
Satellite images taken after Tuesday by Maxar Technologies showed widespread flooding in southern Ukraine, with severe damage to the Novo Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station in the region.
Images of more than 2,500 square kilometers between Novi Kakhovka and Dnipro Bay, southwest of the Black Sea city of Kherson, showed many towns and villages had been submerged, the company said.
Images showed homes and buildings submerged in water, with only roofs visible in many images, while gardens, land and infrastructure were submerged.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier confirmed that the attack on the dam would not affect Kiev’s plans to push forward with a counteroffensive aimed at retaking territory from Russian forces.
“The explosion of the dam has not affected Ukraine’s ability to drive the occupation off its land,” he said on Telegram, noting he had communicated with his country’s top military leaders and said the military was at the highest level of combat readiness state.
international response
In an international reaction, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the breach and called it heinous. He also stressed that “the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam today puts thousands of civilians at risk.”
As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, the UN has no information about the destruction of the dam. What is clear, however, is that what happened, as he said, was yet another devastating consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On the other hand, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant was struggling to pump water to cooling stations, noting that the dam had been severely damaged.
In a speech to the IAEA’s board meeting in Vienna this week, Grossi stressed that damage to the dam “is currently causing the water level to drop by 5 centimeters an hour”.
He noted that the water level in the dam was as high as 16.4 meters on Tuesday morning. He explained that if the water level dropped below 12.7 meters, it would no longer be possible to pump water to supply the plant’s cooling cycle, leaving only “days” to find a solution.
In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country was following the situation at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant after the Novokakhovka dam was destroyed.
Speaking at the 25th European Forum in Berlin, Scholz said Germany was working tirelessly to prevent the situation at the nuclear power plant from reaching a dangerous stage, noting that Europe would continue to support Ukraine financially and militarily.
nuclear danger
Igor Sirota, head of Ukraine’s hydropower stations, announced that the power station connected to the dam was “completely destroyed”. Yuriy Chernychuk, the Russian-appointed head of the power plant, said that “at present the safety of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is not threatened.”
“The water level in the cooling pool has not changed, the situation is still within the controllable range of the working group,” Chernychuk added, explaining that the water cooling system is not directly connected to the outside environment and can be replenished from other sources.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolak said in a letter to reporters that “the world once again finds itself on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe” as the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant “has lost its cooling source and the danger is now It’s deteriorating rapidly.”
flood
After the accident, people in Kherson, the region’s largest population center, ran to higher ground as the water rose, which was kept under control thanks to a dam and a hydroelectric power plant on the Dnieper.
Ukraine announced the evacuation of 17,000 people near the dam when 24 villages were flooded. Ukrainian officials said about 16,000 people lived in a “risk zone” where flooding could occur.
On the Russian-controlled river bank, the mayor of Novo Kakhovka, where the dam is located, said the city had been flooded and 900 people had been evacuated. He noted that authorities dispatched 53 buses to transport people from Nowy Kakhovka and two nearby districts to safety.
Videos circulating on social media showed severe flooding in the Russian-controlled Novokakhovka, next to the dam.
The water level rose to more than 11 meters and some residents were taken to hospital, Moscow’s appointed mayor said, without elaborating.
In the same context, the small town of Oleshki on the banks of the Russian-controlled Dnieper River was almost completely submerged, a Russian-appointed regional official said Tuesday.
The Russian-appointed Kherson state administration also said it was preparing for the evacuation of the three districts of Novokakhovka, Hola Prystan and Oleshki, which are under Ukrainian control The regional capital of Kherson is opposite the mouth of the Dnieper River.
It is worth noting that the city of Nova Kakhovka fell to the Russian army within the first hours of its attack on Ukraine in February 2022, including the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam.
The new Kakhovka dam was built in the 1950s and has strategic value. The dam pumps water into the North Crimea Canal, which runs from southern Ukraine across the entire Crimean peninsula. That means any problems with the dam could lead to water supply problems in Crimea, which has been under Russian control since 2014.
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