Part of the massive Soviet-era Kakhovka Dam, located in an area controlled by Russia, collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday, flooding large swathes of a war zone and threatening the lives of dozens of thousands of people.
Ukraine accused Russia of bombing the dam, while Moscow said Kiev sabotaged the dam at the behest of the West to limit water supplies to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 , and to divert attention from a failing counterattack.
Some Russian-backed officials said the dam may have collapsed on its own.
imminent danger
Countless landmines laid during the 15-month war have been washed away, and no one knows where they are now. He may still be in minefields, or he may be stuck in the mud of a river, or in fields, gardens, and roads over a wide area. “Before, we knew where the dangers were. Now we don’t. All we know is that they are somewhere downstream,” said Erik Tolfsen, head of the unit of contamination of weapons at the ICRC. “We are horrified when we see the news coming,” Tolfsen added in an audio clip. “There are World War II mines that were discovered underwater in Denmark in 2015 and were still active.” The war in Ukraine, Europe’s largest since World War II, has left vast amounts of mines and unexploded ordnance across large swaths of the country, a danger campaigners have warned about since Russia sent troops in February last year.
huge numbers
Besides anti-personnel mines, both sides have used massive amounts of artillery shells and anti-tank mines. Tolfsen said the exact number of mines in Ukraine is unclear.
“We just know the numbers are huge,” he continued.
Tolfsen pointed out that the problem with mines is not necessarily their number, but where they have been planted, especially in a large agricultural country like Ukraine.
He said areas towards the mouth of the river past the dam contain fields of anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines, which have been laid by both sides in the conflict.
Russian-appointed authorities who control part of Ukraine’s Kherson region warned residents on Thursday of mines washed downstream by floodwaters.
The Russian-backed Emergency Response Center in the Kherson region warned that the danger of “washing away mines and other dangerous objects is possible. Kherson is one of five regions in Ukraine that Moscow has declared unilaterally annexed.
“As soon as the waters recede, we will immediately begin technical exploration of the areas. But for now, we advise to be as careful as possible,” he added.
During a visit to the stricken city of Kherson on Wednesday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov also warned of the dangers posed by floating mines, as well as the spread of diseases and dangerous chemicals in the waters of raw.
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