In the areas adjacent to the Dnieper, an alarm was sounded after the explosion of a huge hydroelectric dam in Novaya Kakhovka, in Kherson. Russian and Ukrainian authorities have already grappled with flooding, falling drinking water levels in southern Crimea and potential problems for the cooling tank at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye.
The Global Data Center for Geoinformatics and Sustainable Development, a Ukrainian non-governmental organization, estimates that about 100 villages and towns will be flooded. He also calculated that the water level would only start to fall after 5-7 days. The water level around the dam has already risen by five meters, according to the Russian state news agency RIA, according to which 14 settlements in Kherson are at risk of flooding and 22,000 people living in them are at risk.
“The dam is completely destroyed,” the Ukrainian state hydropower company said in a statement. At the same time, Ukrhydroenergo claimed that Russia blew up the station from inside the engine room.
Seven hundred and forty-two people were evacuated from the Kherson region as of 10:00 local time after the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station was blown up by Russian troops, the Interior Ministry said on June 6. 📸: Kherson regional military administration / Telegram pic.twitter.com/cSypEUVob6
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 6, 2023
Residents of the Kherson region are advised not to leave pets on chains, in aviaries or cages, and to safely evacuate pets so that they do not drown in flood waters from the destroyed dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station.
📸: Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine @MVS_UA pic.twitter.com/XLXO2DV2bv— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 6, 2023
The Kakhovka hydroelectric power station “completely went under water,” local authorities in the Kherson region say after Russian troops blew up the hydroelectric power plant’s dam in the early hours of June 6.
Video: Kakhovka City Military Administration/Telegram pic.twitter.com/KiMWFxiJzm
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 6, 2023
Russia-backed Crimean Governor Sergei Aksyonov said there was a risk of a drop in water levels in the North Crimean Canal, which brings fresh water from the Dnieper to the peninsula. There are still enough water supplies in Crimea, and the level of danger will be visible in the coming days.
A Russian official in the town of Novaya Kakhovka said on Tuesday that residents of about 300 houses had been evacuated, according to the state news agency TASS. TASS also reported that the mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leonidev, reported a power outage in part of the city for security reasons.
The situation at Zaporozhye NPP is under control
The Ukrainian state nuclear energy company Energoatom reported on the situation and assessed that “negative consequences for the nuclear power plant are possible, but the situation is under control.”
“An additional threat to the station is the rapidly declining water level in the reservoir. At the moment, however, the nuclear power plant’s cooling pool has been filled,” the company said.
Energoatom monitors the situation at the ZNPP plant together with other international organizations located at the plant, in particular the IAEA.
The corresponding message was received from the Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom.
Cross-categories of Ukraine and Russia
The head of the presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, wrote on the Telegram messenger, without specifying that Russia’s actions also pose a threat to the neighboring Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.
Also, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said that President Zelensky would urgently convene the council on Tuesday after the explosion at the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power station.
“The dam (in) Kakhovka was blown up by the Russian occupation troops,” the command of the southern sector of the Ukrainian army said on Facebook. The same source added that “the scale of the disaster, the speed and volume of water, as well as areas that may be flooded, are being established.”
Ukraine’s intelligence services said in a statement that Russian forces destroyed the dam in a “state of panic.” They added that “this is a clear act of terrorism and a war crime that will be evidence for an international court.”
V. Zelensky himself said that the explosion of a dam in the Russian-occupied Kherson region is an “environmental crime” and “proves that Russians must be expelled from all corners of Ukraine.”
Ukrainians fired at the dam, according to officials close to Moscow who spoke to Russian news agencies. An official stationed by Moscow in the region spoke of a “very serious terrorist attack,” terminology that also refers to the Ukrainian attack.
The Russian side was essentially talking about Kiev’s move to disorientate the Russians from the impending Ukrainian army counterattack, indicating that the occupying forces are concerned about the response that Ukraine is preparing on a battlefield now equipped with many Western munitions.
And the occupying authorities in Crimea reported that the reservoirs on the peninsula are overflowing, stressing that there are no problems in the area, which is supplied with water from the dam. However, in the medium term, the water channel in the north of Crimea is likely to “dry up,” they note.
According to Reuters, Associated Press
Source: Kathimerini
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