As Ukraine and Russia continue to point fingers at each other for the breaching of the Russian-held Nova Kakhovka dam on Tuesday, June 6th, the extent of the devastation it has wrought is sinking in.
Two days after the hydroelectric dam’s destruction, an area of about 600 square kilometers (230 square miles) has been flooded, satellite images show.
According to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, within this area, 29 settlements in total have been affected, 19 of which—such as the larger port city of Kherson—are under Ukrainian control.
It is not known how many people may have died as a result of the flooding.
Ukrainian authorities have, however, reported that at least three people had died in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, while the Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka said on Thursday, June 8th, that at least five people had lost their lives.
Aside from the rushing water having drowned some as it destroyed homes and factories, according to Kyiv, hundreds of thousands of people are at risk due to a lack of clean drinking water. In addition, due to damage to energy infrastructure, large parts of the region are without power or gas.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture also fears that tens of thousands of hectares of farmland will be lost to flooding, while another 500,000 hectares would turn into “deserts” due to being deprived of irrigation.
Ukrainian and Russian authorities both warn that the flood has dislodged many land mines which, cast adrift, could pose a danger for “decades to come,” says Erik Tollefsen of the International Red Cross. Russia and Ukraine have not declared any kind of number of mines that have been laid, said Tollefsen, noting that “We just know that the numbers are massive.”
“[Before the flooding], [w]e knew where the hazards were,” Tollefsen said, adding “Now we don’t know. All we know is that they are somewhere downstream.”
On Wednesday, a blogger posted a video on Telegram purportedly showing such a mine detonating while in the water.
While many civilians have gotten out safely on their own, rescue efforts are still underway, with hundreds of Ukrainians being rescued from rooftops on Thursday. Other civilians, however, still find themselves trapped.
On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the area to speak with local authorities, aid workers, and evacuees. In his daily video message, published the previous evening, he called on international aid organizations, such as the Red Cross, to come to Ukraine’s aid.
That same afternoon, Denise Brown, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator at the UN, announced her intention to assist in the evacuation of civilians from flooded zones on both banks—one Russian-controlled, one Ukrainian-controlled—of the Dnipro River.
To that end, the UN has repeatedly asked Moscow for access and safety guarantees for its staff and the people they would help but stated their requests had not yet been granted.
The World Health Organization is already sending emergency supplies to the region as it is gearing up to address an array of health risks there, including trauma, drowning, and waterborne diseases like cholera.
“The impact of the region’s water supply, sanitation systems, and public health services cannot be underestimated,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians and Russians are trading accusations over who is shelling the region’s ongoing rescue operations. According to eyewitnesses who spoke to Politico, Russia had done so on Thursday, as it targeted Ukrainian-held parts of Kherson.
A Reuters reporter who was in Kherson at the time said he could hear what appeared to be artillery fire.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said Russian shelling there had wounded at least nine people as residents were being evacuated. The Prosecutor General’s office has meanwhile opened a war crimes investigation while claiming that another four people had been wounded in a nearby village.
Similarly, the Kremlin also asserted that Ukraine, through shelling, was complicating the work of Russian rescue workers in the area. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was monitoring the situation, but did not yet envision a visit.
