Serhiy Magera, member of the Parliament of Ukraine, member of the Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management

 

On the night of June 6, the Russians blew up the dam of the Kakhovka reservoir. It is completely destroyed and cannot be restored. The invaders are trying to blame Ukraine, but no one in the world believes them anymore.

The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant has been under occupation since the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion. The invaders mined the station, using tons of explosives, Ukrainian intelligence reported.

Even then, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to the European Council with calls to prevent a global catastrophe. He asked to send an international observation mission to the Kakhovka HPP and help return Ukrainian specialists to the facility. Unfortunately, we did not receive a positive response.

Meanwhile, Sergei Surovikin, Commander of the Russian Joint Grouping of Forces in Ukraine, openly stated that the Russians were ready to make "difficult decisions."

Theoretically, the Ukrainians could blow up the station only with air forces. Let me remind you that the object is under occupation. It should be remembered that Kakhovka HPP was built after the Second World War in 1955-58. During construction, the possible threats of missile strikes were taken into account. The dam cannot be destroyed by missiles.

The Russians have experience with such explosions. On August 18, 1941, in order to stop the advance of the German troops, the Soviet authorities blew up the dam of the Dnieper hydroelectric power station.

Today, the Ukrainian authorities were able to quickly organize the evacuation of people from the southern regions. Nearly 80 settlements are at risk of flooding. But this is just the beginning of the real disaster.

Firstly, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is located on the banks of the Kakhovkа Reservoir. A small amount of water in the plant's cooling ponds can lead to a real nuclear accident. Secondly, hundreds of settlements and hundreds of thousands of people will remain without drinking water. This will cause mass poisoning of people, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and even death. Thirdly, thousands of hectares of agricultural land will be deprived of irrigation water. Therefore, the country will not receive the planned crops. If the flooding continues for several days, young forest and agricultural plantations will disappear.

Agrochemicals, biological waste and oil products are washed off the soil surface right now. They fall into the sea and can lead to a real disaster. Thousands of animals drown. This will become a source of pollution with extremely toxic substances.

The destruction of the Kakhovkа hydroelectric power station is a real terrorist act and ecocide by Russia. The international community has already called it a war crime, and the Security Service of Ukraine has opened criminal proceedings and is investigating under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war) and 441 (ecocide).

“After me, even a flood” is one of the most beloved phrases of Russians. It contains the essence of these people. They bury rubbish in their own backyard, not realizing that it harms them. They blow up the dam and deprive people of drinking water.

I hope that our foreign partners will stop being indignant and start taking concrete measures to stop the Russian terrorists. The problem cannot be ignored. The Russians threatened to blow up the Kakhovkа hydroelectric power station for more than a year. And now they have realized their threat, trying to stop the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Let's finally stop these barbarians.