The Ukrainian authorities are working fast to alleviate the effects of the overflow of the dam of the New Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station in southern Ukraine, which overflowed this Tuesday morning due to the explosion of a supposedly premeditated explosion of which the Kiev government accuses Russia.
Officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed this Wednesday their fear that the breach of the Ukrainian Kajovka dam would have catastrophic effects due to the spread of miles of antipersonnel mines carried by the water, but also because of the warning signs about Your presence. “It is a real catastrophe for those affected,” Erik Tollefsen, head of the ICRC disposal unit for this weapon, told EFE, noting that the water “has washed away mines and other explosive remnants of the war that are now contaminating new areas” .Moscow accused Kiev on Wednesday of having blown up the ammonia pipeline linking the Russian city of Togliatti and Odessa, in southern Ukraine, denouncing a “terrorist act” that left several civilians injured. The conduit had been deactivated since February 2022, but Moscow was waiting for it to be put into operation.
evacuated
According to the Ukrainian government, so far the areas most affected by the flooding have been evacuated, which resulted in more than 1,450 people from the western bank of the Dnieper River, where the dam was found and which splits the Ukrainian province of Kherson. On the left bank, occupied by Russia, the Russian media speak of 1,300 evacuees so far.
flooded hectares
On the side of the river under the control of the Kiev government, the water from the dam has already flooded some 100,000 hectares of agricultural land, according to data from the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture, which has announced the consequences for food security that this could have for one of the most productive regions of Europe. In addition, the destruction of the dam makes it impossible for at least 31 irrigation systems not only in the Kherson province, but also in the neighboring regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia to function. These systems allowed us to consider more than half a million hectares.
Damage to the electrical system
Some 20,000 subscribers to the Ukrainian electricity system have lost power in Kiev-controlled southern Ukrainian territories after torrents of water released by the ruptured dam flooded 129 electrical substations, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy reported today. . The catastrophe, described by the Ukrainian authorities as “ecocide”, has also had effects on the system of pipes and distribution of running water. Six infrastructures for water purification have been flooded according to the municipal authorities of the city of Kherson.
Risk to water supply
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “hundreds of miles of people have been left without normal access to drinking water.” Faced with this situation, the Ukrainian government has urgently approved a budget item to build pipes that carry drinking water to the regions that use the dam for their supply in the south of the country.
dead animals
In the Russian-occupied Kherson National Park, thousands of animals have died as a result of flooding caused by the overflowing dam, the Russian-imposed mayor of the town of New Kakhovka said. In the park, of more than 80,000 hectares, lived specimens of more than 70 rare species. Ukrainian NGOs have reported the death of all the animals in the New Kakhovka zoo and many companion animals on both banks of the Dnieper river.
Motor oil
The Ukrainian presidential office has published a video showing multitudes of dead fish, presumably as a result of the spill of motor oil stored in the engine room of the hydroelectric power station. Kiev denounced yesterday the spillage of at least 150 tons of hydraulic oil into the Dnieper River and the Black Sea, into which it flows, as a result of an explosion that, according to the Ukrainian authorities, could only have occurred from inside the control room. central machines.
million euros of losses
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy, building a new hydroelectric power station after the irreparable damage suffered by the one that had been operating up to now in the area would cost around 1,000 million dollars (more than 930 million euros). The Ministry estimates the damage caused by the loss of water resources caused by the catastrophe at around 50 million euros. EFE
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