Throughout the week, the situation in the direction of Zaporizhia and around the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station has been the focus of our attention.
On Tuesday evening, a new series of rocket attacks were launched on the upper part of the station – and the structure, which had firmly resisted the Ukrainian bombardments for more than a year, this time could not withstand it and started to crumble.
More than half of the spans of the hydroelectric power plant collapsed, as a result of which an uncontrolled outflow of water began and a stormy stream, washing away everything in its path, hit all coastal towns and villages. At maximum values, the water in some places rose to 12 meters. To understand, it’s the height of a 4-storey building. An emergency evacuation has begun. Additional forces from the Ministry of Emergencies were quickly deployed to the area. In the new Kakhovka, Hola Pristan, Aleshki, the situation was the most difficult. There, rescuers filmed people directly from the roofs of flooded houses.
In total, more than 40,000 people were in the disaster area. At the same time, what is happening on the other flooded bank, in the area controlled by Ukraine, is unknown. One can only sympathize with the common people, it is obvious that the Western mercenaries who captured the area obviously did not rush to save them and take them to safe places.
There is not even enough to talk about environmental and economic damage. The entire flooded area, even after the water has left, will remain unsuitable for agriculture or habitation for many years.
And another telling fact. Even after the terrorist attack, Ukrainian militants did not calm down. On Thursday, Golaya Pristan, an evacuation point for civilians, was hit. They rammed the buses in which they were going to take people out. Two people died, including a pregnant woman. That is, those who could not be drowned – the terrorists decided to finish with artillery shelling.
The city of Novaya Kakhovka is closest to the destroyed dam – it was he who took the first blow from the elements. Many houses fell under water up to the roof in minutes. According to local residents, thanks to timely warning and assistance from the military, the panic was averted.
“Thanks to the soldiers, people were relieved at night and evacuated. It’s a big thank you to them. There was no panic as such, people were worried. But personally, I didn’t see panic anywhere,” said Viktor, a resident of Nova Kakhovka.
Rescuers immediately came to the aid of those trapped in their homes. Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and volunteers evacuate those who want to leave the danger zone and bring food and drinking water to those who nevertheless decide to stay. It is necessary to take out not only people, but also pets.
Rescuers work under constant bombardment from Ukrainian radicals. Ukrainian nationalists are doing their best to aggravate the humanitarian catastrophe.
“The APU strikes all the time. Yesterday, the guys who participated in the evacuation, our employees were driving in several cars between cars, a drone came in, passed by and dropped a grenade. And that’s exactly what happened to our guys. Again, the shelling of NATO soldiers of 155 caliber, 120 mines, 80th mines was looking for other types of weapons, ”said Sergey Dmitriev, first deputy head of the Novokakhovsk city district administration .
The next day, the water in Novaya Kakhovka began to gradually decrease, but the evacuation continues. Now it is simply dangerous to be here – Ukrainian shells continue to fall on the city.
In the flood zone, in addition to Novaya Kakhovka, there are almost two dozen settlements. Affected, according to various estimates – from 20 to 40 thousand people. A difficult situation is now in the cities of Alyoshki, Golaya Pristan and their surroundings. Some villages, like Korsunka, were almost completely submerged.
From the flooded areas of the Kherson region, rescuers pulled out more than 6,000 people. But even when they are safe from the flood, people are dying under the shelling of Ukrainian militants.
Last Friday, radicals attacked the temporary accommodation for evacuees at Arabat Spit, killing one person.
The day before, the militants had fired on the evacuation point of Golay Pristan. Two people were killed, including a pregnant woman.
In settlements that are on a hill and have not yet been flooded, people do not want to leave. They are sure that the water will not reach them – but the Ministry of Emergency Situations warns that the situation could change at any time.
Ukrainian terrorists laid the foundation for the current disaster in the summer of 22. It was then that they began to bomb the hydroelectric power station. In the fall, the attacks intensified – in October and November, two dozen HIMARS missiles were fired at the locks of the station, and one of the commanders of the Ukrainian army, in an interview with Western journalists , spoke openly about the purpose of these attacks.
“General Kovalchuk considered the possibility of flooding with the help of the river. The Ukrainians, he said, had already carried out test strikes with a HIMARS launcher on one of the locks of the Novaya Kakhovka dam, making three holes to see if the water level in the Dnieper could be high enough to block Russian crossings,” writes the Washington Post.
Only thanks to the margin of safety established by the Soviet designers, the station lasted a whole year under missile attacks. But now, according to experts, the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station cannot be restored. And the long-term consequences of the destruction of the dam will be felt throughout the region. The scale of the destruction is eloquently illustrated by satellite images.
Such a flood is also a large-scale ecological disaster. Cemeteries and animal cemeteries fell into the flood zone, they are gradually washed away. There is a risk of water contamination. Local residents are advised to use only bottled drinking water, which is provided by employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The entire flooded area has become a so-called ecocide zone. Tens of thousands of animals died, Nizhnedneprovsky National Park was completely destroyed. A sudden discharge of a huge amount of river water has led to the desalination of the Black Sea, which also threatens an environmental disaster. Due to the low water level in the Kakhovka reservoir, fish are dying in droves.
The tanks are empty, on the Ukrainian side, because of this, production is already stopping. For example, ArcelorMittal, the largest metallurgical plant in Ukraine, has stopped its work. Nearby fields, even those that have not turned into swamps, will become deserts next year. Up to 90% of irrigation systems in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnepropetrovsk regions will remain without a water source. Another danger is the dust that the silt from the bottom of the reservoirs will turn, in these deposits is the entire periodic table: from harmful chemical compounds to radioactive substances. According to experts, it is not even possible to guess how many years – and funds – it will take to restore the ecosystem. And the big question is whether it will be possible to restore it at all.
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