The Kakhovka dam, in the south of the invaded country, was destroyed by Russian troops to prevent Ukrainian forces from advancing in the Kherson oblast, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar denounced this Sunday, June 11. However, Moscow rejects those accusations. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation is “enormously worse” after the dam burst, the UN notes.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam, a fast-moving disaster that is becoming an environmental catastrophe with generational consequences. This is highlighted by the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group.
While the serious humanitarian and environmental effects of the attack continue, the Government of the invaded country denounced on June 11 that Russia had caused the disaster with an explosion inside the town’s hydroelectric power station to stop the operations of the Ukrainian Army in the region.
“The explosion at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was apparently carried out with the intention of preventing the Ukrainian Defense Forces from launching an offensive in the Kherson sector,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said.
Likewise, the Kiev official assured that the action, which unleashed large-scale floods that have covered entire towns and villages, trapped residents and razed homes, was also aimed at helping the deployment of Russian reserves in neighboring areas. Zaporizhia and in Bakhmut, one of the most disputed cities in eastern Ukraine.
His statements come after last Friday, June 9, Volodimir Zelenski’s Army released the audio of the interception of a call between the Russian military, which, he says, proves Moscow’s authorship.
However, the Kremlin rejects the accusations and instead accuses its counterpart. The alleged evidence has not been independently verified.
Western governments say they are still gathering evidence, but argue that Ukraine would have no reason to inflict such a devastating disaster on itself, especially as its forces finalized preparations for a major counter-offensive to retake its territories seized by Moscow.
In this sense, Kiev also announced this Saturday that its troops recaptured a town in the south of the territory, Blagodatne, which would be the first victory of this confra-offensive predicted by Ukraine.
However, Moscow reaffirmed that Kiev’s attempts have been “failed” on three fronts and that the Russian Army repelled more than a dozen attacks, especially around Zaporz.
Russia returned to affirm today that the Ukrainian forces carried out in the last day “failed attempts” in their counteroffensive on three fronts, since the Russian troops repelled more than a dozen attacks, especially in Zaporizhia and south of Donetsk.
“Over the past day, the Ukrainian armed forces have continued unsuccessful attempts at offensive operations in the southern-Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk directions,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said.
Ukraine faces “enormously worse” humanitarian situation
The serious consequences for the population are much greater than the one that the country invaded by Russia already maintained before the rupture of the dam, which occurred last Tuesday, June 6, he assured the person in charge of humanitarian affairs UN, Martin Griffiths.
Some 700,000 people are without drinking water and the ravages of flooding in one of the world’s most important breadbaskets will almost “inevitably” lead to lower grain exports, higher food prices across the planet and less food for millions of needy , warned griffiths.
“This is a viral problem (…) But the truth is that this is only the beginning of the consequences,” anticipated the senior United Nations official.
For his part, the president of the attacked country, Volodímir Zelenski, criticized parts of the international community for being “shamefully indifferent” to the humanitarian and environmental disasters caused by the dam rupture.
“When the international organizations that are supposed to protect life on a global scale fail to form and send a rescue mission to the occupied territory, even a week later, when some global actors dare not come out with clear and forceful statements condemning the latter attack and Russian war crime, the terrorists are simply fed by this weakness of the world, this indifference, encourages them,” Zelensky emphasized.
The rescue efforts are particularly difficult for kyiv, as it ishe Dnieper River, the main river of the invaded country and near which the disaster occurred, is part of the battle front line. Kiev maintains its authority on the western bank or right bank, but Moscow has occupied the eastern part or left bank, where the dam is located, since the first days of the war, so local authorities can hardly access those locations in their country and urge international help.
Moscow, for its part, assures that it is carrying out evacuation operations and care for the affected civilians.
A disaster with generational consequences
To the declarations of the UN are added those of environmental experts.
The immediate effects are visible to the naked eye: thousands of parcels of land and houses flooded, hundreds of dead wild animals and fish, extensive damage to fauna and flora, and thousands of people trapped without drinking water, among other serious consequences.
But the long-term dangers will be worse. Why will there be consequences for several generations? The Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group explains that for every flooded house and farm there are newly planted fields of grain, fruit and vegetables whose irrigation canals are drying up.
Thousands of fish gasped in the mud flats. Young waterfowl lost their nests and food sources. Countless trees and plants were submerged.
Water is life and “the drainage of the Kakhovka reservoir creates an uncertain future for the region” of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, which was an arid plain until the Dnieper River was dammed 70 years ago, remarks Kateryna Filiuta , expert in protected habitats of the group of experts.
The Kakhovka dam was the last of a system of six similar Soviet-era dams on that stream, which flows from neighboring Belarus to the Black Sea.
But the main river that runs through Ukraine has become one of the biggest battlefronts since Russia ordered war on February 24, 2022. In the midst of armed attacks and now after the disaster caused by the collapse of the dam, the consequences are magnify.
Moscow: the Dnieper river would return to its normal course in Nova Kakhovka on June 16
The remarks were made by the Russian-imposed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Saldo, citing preliminary calculations by Russian hydroelectric producer RusHydro.
In addition, he pointed out that the water level in that area occupied by the invading troops has dropped three meters since last Tuesday, June 6.
“The pumping of water and the collection of garbage from the streets have already begun,” said the Russian official.
Saldo added that around 7,000 people have been evacuated from the flooded districts of the town, including 323 children, while 77 people have been hospitalized.
In the last few hours, both the mayor imposed by the Kremlin in the area and the Ukrainian Army accused each other of launching alleged bombardments that attack civilians in the flooded Ukrainian territories.
The exchange of accusations takes place at a time when the counter-offensive announced for months by Kiev would be taking place in at least four areas, including the disputed Bakhmut, in the east, as suggested by President Zelenski on Saturday, a day after the Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that this operation is already underway.
But, for the moment, Ukraine does not conclusively confirm the start of the full-scale operation, while it faces the consequences of the disaster in Nova Kakhovka.
With Reuters and AP
