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Will Crimea die of thirst? Dam destruction has catastrophic effects

2023-06-08T10:32:40.121Z

Highlights: Ukraine will have devastating consequences from the Kakhovka dam collapse, writes Daniel Carde. The water masses transport highly toxic sludge, make landmines even more dangerous and cause a shortage of drinking water. If Moscow deliberately caused an explosion, the Kremlin may have dramatically underestimated the consequences for Russia, Carde says. The floods have also affected disproportionately military preparations on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnipro River. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres: "This is another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine"



Floods after blowing up Kakhovka dam: people in Kherson fight their way through the floods (picture taken on June 7, 2023). © IMAGO/ ZUMA Wire/Daniel Carde

The momentous breach of the Kakhovka Dam increases the danger of landmines, pollutes the country with toxic sludge and causes a shortage of drinking water.

Kherson – How exactly the destruction of the Kakhovka dam occurred on Tuesday morning has not yet been conclusively clarified. What is certain, however, is that Ukraine will have devastating consequences. The catastrophe caused many deaths, injuries and displacements. In addition, the water masses transport highly toxic sludge, make landmines even more dangerous and cause a shortage of drinking water. If Moscow deliberately caused an explosion, the Kremlin may have dramatically underestimated the consequences for Russia.

Highly toxic sludge enters settlements and nature reserves: "Mass destruction environmental bomb"

Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the destruction of the dam. Experts calculate that Russia had more to gain than Ukraine. However, there is no evidence of a Russian explosion yet. According to media reports, initial U.S. intelligence findings indicate that Moscow is either suspected or negligent behind the destruction. While it is still unclear how the disaster occurred, UN Secretary-General António Guterres commented on the incident on Tuesday, "but one thing is clear: this is another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine," the UN chief said. After the collapse of the dam on Tuesday morning, the water masses flooded nature reserves, agricultural land and villages.

Not only did the sheer power of the water cause death and destruction, the floods also swept toxic mud with them. "A large part of the insecticides and heavy metals from the industry further upstream sink to the bottom of the reservoir behind the dam," the head of the Ukrainian NGO Green Leaf, Vladislav Balynsky, told Newsweek. The sludge is therefore highly toxic. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the dam disaster as a "mass destruction environmental bomb". According to the Ukrainian leadership, which cannot be independently verified, at least 150 tons of machine oil entered the Dnipro River.

After the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam: Landmines can no longer be located

The rupture of the Kakhovka Dam would already be a catastrophe in peacetime, but in the Ukraine war the consequences are even more far-reaching. This is because mined areas have also been flooded, which means that landmines can no longer be precisely located. "We knew where the dangers were," Erik Tollefsen, head of the weapons load department at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said on Wednesday. "Now we don't know anymore. All we know is that they're somewhere downstream." This is very worrying both for the affected population and "for all those who come to help". The mines could become a decades-long problem for the civilian population of southern Ukraine, Tollefsen continued.

Consequences for Russia: How the dam collapse endangers Russian positions and water supply

As a result of the dam failure, hundreds of thousands of people are without normal access to drinking water in a larger catchment area, according to authorities. The southern towns and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in violation of international law, drew water from the Kakhovka reservoir. Now these regions could face a water shortage. The Kremlin-appointed head of the Crimean government, Sergei Aksyonov, said on Telegram on Wednesday that Crimea's water reservoirs were 80 percent full and there was sufficient drinking water for the region. With regard to the northern Crimean Canal, which supplies the peninsula with water, Aksyonov acknowledged that "there is a danger that the water level in the canal will become too shallow."

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The floods have also disproportionately affected military preparations on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnipro, George Barros, an expert at the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), told Newsweek. "The left bank is lower, the slope is smaller, and so the water flows mainly towards the Russian positions on this side of the river." The front Russian lines with trenches and dugouts were completely swallowed up by the water. Forces and military equipment have been moved back between five and 15 kilometers, leaving Russian troops outside the artillery range of some previous targets, an ISW report said on Wednesday.

Russia may not have given sufficient consideration to the consequences of the dam burst

The southern front line of the war runs along the Dnipro River. Pro-Russian military bloggers had suspected in the past that Ukrainian troops were crossing the river to the east bank of the Dnipro, the ISW reported on Wednesday. Slowing down the Ukrainian counteroffensive is therefore considered a possible motive for Russia to destroy the dam. Reports that the explosion was caused by Russia are being examined, confirmed the communications director of the US National Security Council, John Kirby, on Tuesday. The Russian armed forces had not considered the consequences before the destruction of the dam and were too worried about a Ukrainian counteroffensive, suspected Nataliya Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Task Force South. (Bettina Menzel)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-06-08

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