2023-06-07 08:54:17
Satellite image of the Nova Kakhovka Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant in Ukraine
“The destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine is one of the most severe losses to civilian infrastructure since the start of the Russian invasion,” said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
Martin Griffiths added, during his speech before a session of the UN Security Council in New York on the destruction of the dam in southern Ukraine, that the scale of the disaster will only become clear in the coming days.
The waters of the dam have now reached eighty of the towns on both banks of the Dnipro River, causing severe flooding that incurred losses for buildings and agricultural lands.
The Nova Kakhovka Dam is very important for the region, as it contains a reservoir that provides water to farmers and residents, and to the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, as well as being a major channel for transporting water south towards the Crimean Peninsula, which is under Russian control.
The Administration of State Hydroelectric Power Stations of Ukraine “Okrhydronergo” warned that the leakage of water from the reservoir, which is being discharged downstream, will peak as expected on Wednesday morning.
Mutual accusations
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky accused Russia of causing mass destruction of the environment by blowing up the dam, while Moscow blamed what it described as Ukrainian saboteurs.
This comes at a time when the Kherson authorities, loyal to Russia, imposed a state of emergency in the city due to the high water level following the bombing of the dam, and the authorities announced the flooding of regarding 2,700 homes and the evacuation of 1,300 people from flooded areas.
The emergency services in Kherson accused the Ukrainian forces of targeting the city with regarding 60 artillery shells, and that they fired 34 artillery shells in the direction of Kakhovka and a number of surrounding cities.
Satellite image of flooded homes along the Dnipro River, southeast of Kherson
The pro-Russian authorities in Nova Kakhovka said that the water level began to decline today following the destruction of the dam in the city, and the pro-Moscow mayor of Nova Kakhovka stated that 7 people are missing following the destruction of the dam in the city.
The Russian governor of Kursk also spoke regarding power outages in two villages following Ukrainian bombing targeted the power station in the province.
There are concerns regarding the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which uses the reservoir’s water for cooling.
The International Atomic Energy Agency declared that the situation there was under control, and that there was “no immediate threat to nuclear safety” at the plant.
It is not yet clear what caused a hole in the dam in the early hours of Tuesday, but Ukrainian military intelligence accused Russia of deliberately blowing it up.
Russia feared that Ukrainian forces would use the road over the dam to advance into territory it controls as part of a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
The dam is a real concern for Russia, which is defending swept territories in southern Ukraine.
Residents carry personal belongings on a flooded street in Kherson, following the Nova Kakhovka Dam was destroyed
Ukrainian forces attacked the bridges downstream last fall, in an attempt to isolate Russian forces in and around Kherson. Therefore, Russia may have decided to destroy the dam in order to disrupt Ukraine’s counterattack, which it fears is coming from multiple directions.
Despite this, a Russian official claims that Ukraine carried out the attack on the dam to divert attention from what were perceived as failures in its counter-offensive, and to deprive Crimea of fresh water.
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