Russian invaders blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, nearby settlements began to flood.
According to the information of the "South" operational command, the occupiers blew up the dam on the morning of June 6. The Kakhovka HPP regulates the annual flow of the Dnipro, is used to generate electricity, holds back spring water, etc. The occupiers seized this hydroelectric plant in the first days of the full-scale war. Accordingly, the Kakhov reservoir is also under their control.
As a result of this disaster, nearby settlements on both sides of the Dnieper risk being flooded. A short video from the zoo in the temporarily occupied Nova Kakhovka is circulating on the Internet. In particular, on the page of the Ukrainian blogger Ihor Lachenkov "Lachen writes", it is reported about the death of all the animals that were there. However, this information has not yet been officially confirmed.
Fairytale Dibrova" is the name of a place that tourists called one of the most favorite in the south of Ukraine. About 260 animals ended up in occupation. Last November, a post appeared on the zoo's Facebook page with a request to evacuate the animals to a safer place:
Today animals get food and care only thanks to your support. But with the start of active hostilities, the workers will not be able to feed and warm the animals. Animals and birds will die from hunger, cold and bombings. The only way to save the lives of animals is evacuation."
Since then, no new posts have appeared on the zoo's page.
Currently, there are reports of partial or complete flooding of a number of settlements, as well as one of the districts of Kherson, where beavers were also seen on the streets along with large water.
The spokeswoman of OK "Pivden" Nataliya Humenyuk stated on the air of the national telethon:
They created a trap for themselves, as they flooded the areas of the coast that were mined."
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, reported on a possible provocation from the Russian side in October of last year during an address to the European Council. According to him, already at that time the invaders mined the dam and units of the Kakhovskaya HPP, which receives about 18 million cubic meters of water.
If Russian terrorists blow up this dam, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be in the zone of rapid flooding. "Hundreds of thousands of people may suffer," Zelensky said.
Consequences of the disaster may be:
- destruction of settlements and biosphere;
- Crimea will remain without water;
- risks for Zaporizhzhya NPP due to possible problems with water cooling of reactors.
This was reported by the publication "Rakurs" with reference to the spokeswoman of the OP of Ukraine Daria Zarivna.
