Due to the destruction of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, located upstream from Kherson on the Dnieper, water-intensive agriculture is expected to be reduced in Crimea. This opinion was expressed in a conversation with Russian media by an expert from the National Energy Security Fund, a researcher at the Stanislav Mitrakhovich Financial University.
“Energetically, the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station is at a standstill, it does not work to generate electricity, only its infrastructure serves to regulate the flow, the body of the dam is alive, there is only what is on it, demolished, the so-called ledge. There will be less water in Crimea, but Crimea has been living without water from Kherson since 2014, so it will survive. Just, apparently, there will be a reduction in intensive agriculture in water in Crimea,” he said.
Speaking about the flooding of settlements adjacent to the HPP, Mitrahovich noted that the left bank of the Dnieper, which is controlled by Russia, is lower than the right bank, which is under the control of Ukraine, and therefore will suffer any further. Mitrakhovich also spoke about the possible consequences of the incident for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).
“There are different assessments, probably, you have to trust the representatives of Rosatom, I think they can take care of it. They say that the water can also be used there in a closed circuit to cool the swimming pools where is stored the spent nuclear fuel But in addition, the reactor itself also has the remaining fuel, that is to say that although the plant is shut down, it also needs water to cool certain elements. But, apparently, there will still be enough water in it. The Dnieper will not become completely shallow anyway, the station is shut down, so less water is needed for cooling. In general, everything is more or less normal, the situation is tolerable,” he concluded.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. It is located on the left bank of the Dnieper near the town of Energodar in the Zaporizhzhia region. Russian armed forces took control of ZNPP territory in February 2022. Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of bombing the ZNPP. In September, the station was closed after bombings severed its connection to the Ukrainian power grid. In October, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree transferring the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant to the country’s federal ownership.
Information about the destruction of the dam at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station on Tuesday, June 6 began to appear in telegram channels such as Shot . Mayor of Nova Kakhovka Vladimir Leontiev later declared that due to the strikes inflicted at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station at night, the valves were destroyed, the water “began to flow uncontrollably downstream.” Originally Leontiev denied information about the explosion of the hydroelectric plant, saying it is “nonsense”. The Kremlin said the destruction of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station was due to deliberate sabotage by Kyiv. Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said one of the purposes of the sabotage was to “deprive Crimea of ​​water”. The Kremlin spokesman stressed that Russia resolutely rejects accusations by Kyiv and the West of Russian military involvement in the attack on the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station. In Ukraine, in the European Union and NATO, the responsibility for the emergency has been entrusted to Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a statement that “Russian terrorists” were responsible for the incident. According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine cannot be stopped “neither by water, nor by missiles, nor by anything else”.
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