Minister of Natural Resources calls Kakhovka HPP explosion as largest act of ecocide since beginning of war

20:59, 06.06.2023 1 min read

Russia has committed the biggest act of ecocide since the full-scale invasion, the blowing up of the dam of Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP) will have catastrophic consequences for the environment, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets has said.

"Nyzhniodniprovsky National Park may disappear forever. And this is more than 80,000 hectares of protected lands with rare species of biodiversity... At least 150 tonnes of oils got into the Dnieper River with the risk of further leakage of more than 300 tonnes. Damage to water resources has been estimated at approximately UAH 2 billion," he said on Facebook on Tuesday.

The minister said this is without taking into account damage to the natural reserve fund, soils, biodiversity, forests and other natural resources.

"The amount will only increase," Strilets said.

In his opinion, there is no doubt that the purposeful undermining of the dam by the Russian invaders was carried out to create an ecological disaster and complicate the de-occupation of Ukrainian territories.