Ukraine. Destruction of the dam in Nowa Kachówka. The scale of the damage, authorities gave figures

Ukrainian authorities announced on Tuesday morning that The Russians blew up the dam of the hydroelectric power plant in Nowa Kakhovka. The hydroelectric power plant located on the dam was completely destroyed. The water level in the reservoir is falling rapidly, and the evacuation of the areas below the dam at risk of flooding is underway.

What is the importance of the dam in Nowa Kachówka? >>>

In the evening, Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the authorities of the Kherson region in the south Ukraine, reported that “so far it is known about 1,335 buildings on the right (west) bank of the Dnieper that were under water.” There are several villages on the left bank that are partially submerged. The villages of Korsunka and Dnipriany are completely flooded. Evacuation from flooded towns is underway.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal announced the appointment of a staff to deal with the liquidation of the effects of the blowing up of the dam by Russian troops.

He added that a decision was also made to allocate funds for the construction of water supply systems to supply drinking water to the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Nikopol and Marganets. Regions in the south will also receive additional funding to help them meet their drinking water needs.

The prime minister said that the water level had risen by more than three meters as a result of the dam being blown up. Shmyhal also expressed his conviction that the blowing up of the dam would not affect the functioning of the power grid in the territory under Kyiv’s control.

The destruction of the dam caused such significant damage to the entire hydroelectric power plant that, according to the Ukrainian side, the facility is no longer suitable for reconstruction. So far, the dam formed the Kachowski Reservoir on the Dnieper, stretching for about 240 km. It was commissioned in 1956, is 30 meters high and 3273 meters long. It is one of the most important Ukrainian dams on the Dnieper and the last one from the mouth of the river to the Black Sea, i.e. located in the place where the river carries the most water.

Water from this reservoir flowed down the river on Tuesday, flooding small towns in the western, Kyiv-controlled part of the Kherson region, as well as the lowest part of the city of Kherson. Cities in the Russian-occupied eastern part of the Kherson region were also under water, including New Kachowka and Oleszki.

Local Ukrainian authorities reported that so far (as of Tuesday evening) no fatalities have been recorded. According to the estimates of the State Emergency Situations Service (DSNS) in the afternoon, over 1.3 thousand people were evacuated. people from the west bank of the Dnieper.

However, many more civilians will have to be evacuated in the coming days. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin expressed the assumption that the number of such people could reach as many as 17,000. In total, around 40,000 people will probably suffer from the cataclysm in the Kherson region. civilians, including 25,000 inhabitants of the eastern, Russian-controlled part of the region.

The authorities in Kiev warn that it is far too early to try to assess the consequences of the flood and the scale of the humanitarian disaster in southern Ukraine. “The effects of the Russian troops blowing up the dam on the Dnieper will be known in a week, when the water level begins to fall,” the Ukrainian president admitted Volodymyr Zelensky.

In the opinion of many analysts, a serious consequence of the Russian war crime may be a threat to the cooling system of the Zaporozhian nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, occupied by the enemy since March 2022. On Tuesday afternoon, the Ukrainian company Enerhoatom argued that the situation in this regard was under control. A similar view was expressed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In the unanimous opinion of representatives of the authorities in Kiev, blowing up the dam was a desperate step on the part of Russia, aimed at stopping the announced Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south of the country. Both President Zelensky and other important politicians, including Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC), Oleksiy Danilov, assured that the cataclysm would not affect the plans of the armed forces and would not prevent Ukraine from liberating the occupied territories. In this context, the authorities in Kiev recalled that they were aware of the enemy’s criminal plans, because the area of ​​the power plant in Nowa Kakhovka was already mined in September last year.

The Kremlin’s decision to destroy the dam was also conditioned by internal reasons. The intention was to divert the attention of Russian society from the armed actions of anti-Putin guerrillas in the Belgorod region, which had been going on since the second half of May, noted Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malar.

The Crimean Tatars’ self-government has warned that Russia’s irresponsible actions will also have negative consequences for Moscow-controlled Crimea. In the opinion of the Tatar minority, the lowering of the water level in the North Crimean Canal, as well as its contamination, may lead to problems with the availability of drinking water and the development of dangerous infectious diseases.

According to numerous representatives of Western states and international organizations, e.g. According to Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, blowing up the dam was a crime comparable to the use of weapons of mass destruction. “This is a new sign of escalation, raising the appalling and barbaric nature of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to an unprecedented level,” European Commission spokesman for foreign affairs Peter Stano said. “It’s a new dimension war in Ukraine‘ echoed the German chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Observers in Ukraine and beyond its borders also emphasize the ecological dimension of the disaster on the Dnieper River, e.g. destruction of the habitats of many animal species. Since the morning, numerous recordings and photos have appeared on Ukrainian social media showing terrified animals trying to escape from the water. In occupied Nowa Kachówka, the local zoological garden was under water.