Disaster at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric station. Main

How Ukraine and Russia evacuate people on different banks of the Dnieper

The breakthrough of the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station has already led to one of the largest environmental disasters in the modern history of mankind. The Russian and Ukrainian authorities took more than six thousand people from the flooded territories of the Kherson region. The Ukrainian side has not yet reported victims, and in the occupied territories it is already known that there are dead. Volunteers complain about the Russian military: they interfere with the evacuation and, possibly, hide the victims of floods. Three regions of Ukraine run the risk of encountering a shortage of drinking water, and agriculture has done tremendous damage to the years in advance. The main thing about the flood in the Kherson region is in the material "Cold".

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The destruction of the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station occurred on the night of June 6. According to the Ukrainian Kherson Regional Administration, by June 8, 600 square kilometers of the region were under water. On the right bank of the Dnieper, controlled by Ukraine, 20 cities and villages were flooded. Local authorities reported on the evacuation of more than two thousand people.

The occupation authorities report that 35 settlements are located on the left bank of the Dnieper in the flood zone. According to the "acting governor" of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, about 4,300 people were evacuated from the floods. The occupation head of the New Kakhovka Vladimir Leontyev announced the five dead from the flood, at least two more people are missing.

Ukraine accuses Russia of undermining the hydroelectric power station from the inside of the structure. “For more than a year, Russia has been controlling both the dam and the entire Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station. Dear it in any way from outside-shelling is physically unrealistic. It was mined precisely by Russian invaders and undermined by them, ” said President Vladimir Zelensky. The command of Ukraine believes that the demolition was intentional, but "the enemy acted chaotic, allowing the flooding of his own technology." “They are so tired of waiting, with what direction the counterattack will begin ... that they could not withstand their nerves and they are trying to increase the area of ​​the water surface so that the Ukrainian defense forces could not move on to force,” said Natalya Gumenyuk defense defense spokesman Natalya Gumenyuk.

Russia insists that Ukraine destroyed the dam massaged artillery shelling. With such a charge, Russian representatives made the International Criminal Court in the Hague and the UN International Court. According to the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, the Ukrainian side committed a “deliberate sabotage”, trying to cut the water supply of Crimea.

Military analysts and OSINT researchers admit that the dam was spontaneously collapsed: this could lead to previous damage and insufficient maintenance. Experts and experts in explosions call the most likely reason the undermining of the dam from the inside. According to engineers, spontaneous destruction or external attack is “possible, but less believable explanations” of the breakthrough.

The right bank of the Dnieper. Ukrainian evacuation

The right bank of the Dnieper is on the hill , so less suffered. According to the head of the Kherson regional administration, Alexander Prokudin, only 32% of flooding falls on the right -bank part of the Dnieper. As a result of the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovsky hydroelectric power station , 20 controlled by Ukraine were flooded. Among them are the villages of Tyaginka, Lvovo, Otradokamenka, Ivanovka, Nikolskoye, Tokarevka, Penal, Belozerka . Kherson’s ship area was most affected, where water reached the level of second and third floors of apartment buildings. More than 1.8 thousand buildings were flooded in the area, and more than one and a half thousand people had to be exported.

The Ukrainian authorities announced the evacuation on the Right Bank of the Dnieper on June 6, on the day of the breakthrough of the dam. Then the residents of Nikolaevka, Olgovka, Lvovo, Tyaginka, Penalovka, Ivanovka, Tokarevka, Dnieper, Garden and island parts of Kherson advised to turn off electrical appliances, collect primary necessity and wait for rescuers and police officers. At first, rescuers took people on buses , but soon they had to transfer to boats. Already in the evening of June 6, three bridges flooded on the right bank of the Dnieper.

In total, from the injured areas of the Kherson region, by the evening of June 8, the Ukrainian authorities ejected 2334 people, including 103 children . However, these are not the final figures: the evacuation to which the Ukrainian side attracted 1600 rescuers - the National Police and the State Emergency Service - continues in the village of Sadovoye, Kherson Region and Shumen and Ship regions of Kherson, which are shelling of Russian troops. On June 8, some rescuers and journalists who helped the victims of the flood in Kherson fell under fire. Six people, including one rescuer, were injured, one person died.

Nothing is reported among the victims among the inhabitants of the Right -Bank of the Right Bank. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, rescuers provided timely medical care to all those in need. The Ukrainian authorities were placed from the flooded territories of people in dormitories , humanitarian centers and hotels in the safer parts of Kherson, and low -mobility was taken to hospitals. 114 people, according to Prokudin , were taken out on volunteer cars, 43 - by train on the first day after the breakthrough of the dam.

In addition to people, volunteers and rescuers actively help animals. There are a lot of videos on the network, on which local residents pull disoriented pets out of the water. On one of them, a volunteer, holding a wet kitten in his hands, tells him that he had fished him out of the pipe of the house that had completely gone under the water.

The left bank. Russian evacuation

“Even a large evacuation of people is not required. Most residents remain in their places, although the transport has been sent for them, ” said Vladimir Saldo on the morning of June 6 after the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station. A few hours later, the head of the new Kakhovka occupation administration Vladimir Leontyev said that the “city is flooded”. After that, in the three districts of the Kherson region - Novokakhovsky, Golopostan and Aleshkinsky - the occupation authorities announced the "planned evacuation" "due to a sudden increase in the level of water." Residents were recommended to collect personal belongings, documents, take food and drinking water for three days, and before leaving at home - turn off gas and water.

On the afternoon of June 6, Vladimir Saldo said in the video: “The new Kakhovka and all the cities that are downstream - Olesha, Naked Pier, Kherson and other settlements - live. People calmly move along the streets. I just drove through the streets. Car supplies work, some shops, even enterprises. ” At this moment, it was evident how the water almost hid the fountain in front of the Culture Palace in the New Kakhovka and the doors of the first floor of the building behind the Saldo.

On the evening of June 6, the Kazkova Dibrov Zoo administration wrote that about 300 animals were killed. “All year we tried to save animals. Animals blocked in the park. The park is mined, all roads were blocked, animal evacuation was impossible, ”the post said. The representative of the new Kakhovka occupation administration, appointed by Russia, said that there is no Zoo in the city. The next day, the director of the Crimean zoo claimed that most of the animals from Kakhovka had previously taken to the peninsula and "animals feel good."

On the morning of June 7, Leontyev said that after the destruction of the hydroelectric power station, the village of Korsunka on the left bank of the Dnieper completely went under the water, the settlements of the Dnieper, the Krynka and Cossack laglers are flooded on the roof, but the water level in the region gradually falls. On the same day, an emergency regime was announced on the annexed part of the Kherson region. The owners of the Novokakhovsky Zoo "Kazkova Dibrov" wrote that not all animals were killed: some of them survived, because the employee of the zoo at home was: parrots, proteins, chinchillas, guinea pigs and winfish , which was born five days before the flood.

40 hours after flooding, residents of the occupied territories still did not wait for evacuation, wrote the publications “Layout” and “Agency” with reference to volunteers. According to them, it is not known how many people are waiting for evacuation, but, for example, “hundreds of people” are sitting in the city of Olesha on the roofs of houses.

Volunteers say that the Ministry of Emergency Situations joined the evacuation in the afternoon of June 7, but they "cannot cope with the flow." Saved residents are taken to unsuitable plots, but the Russian military does not pass further. According to volunteers, volunteers independently buy boats. “People are in an extremely difficult situation, without food, without water, often on the roofs and attics without the opportunity to go down,” said one of the volunteer. According to her, what is happening on the left bank of the Dnieper is a “humanitarian disaster”. Only in the evening of June 7, Vladimir Putin instructed the head of the Ministry of Emergencies to help people in the flooding zone in the Kherson region.

Maria Sergeeva (the name was changed at the request of the heroine) , who has long been engaged in the help of refugees, told the cold that volunteers who came to help evacuation are not allowed to miss: “Not even the Ministry of Emergencies, but the military are engaged in passage. Only those people who at the time of flooding were inside the Oleski themselves will be volunteered. “Outside” is not missed by anyone. ” The initiative group , in which Sergeyeva participates, created a card with requests for evacuation: it marks more than 1,400 addresses. Often, at one point, an application for the salvation of not one person, but several at once, is displayed.

Sergeeva says that due to the actions of the Russian military and the Ministry of Emergencies, volunteers cannot begin evacuation and can not even transfer the water, medicines, and food necessary for civilians. “The Ministry of Emergency Situations themselves are engaged in salvation, but there are not enough their capacities. Because of this, specific people suffer. We are already reporting on the death of people in Oleshah, ”says Sergeyeva.

The employee of the Russian Center for Assistance to refugees and forced immigrants Diana Ramazanova said that she managed to contact the Ministry of Emergencies for export from the Kherson region directly. “He said that volunteers cannot skip Oleshki and other settlements due to continuing military operations even now: shelling is underway, mines are swimming there. I think they are also afraid of sabotage, so they don’t miss anyone, ”Ramazanova told the“ cold ”. “But at the same time, the Ministry of Emergencies are ready to accept the boat from volunteers, which they lack.”

On the morning of June 8, Vladimir Leontyev said that five residents of the Kherson region were killed. According to emergency services, units of the region, 23 people addressed to doctors, 21 of them were hospitalized; 4300 people are evacuated, more than 14 thousand houses are flooded.

How does this threaten the whole region?

According to the head of Ukrhydroenergo, Igor Sirota, it is impossible to restore the Kakhovsky hydroelectric power station. The Dnieper will have to build a new hydroelectric power station, and this will need at least five years and at least one billion hryvnias (about $ 27 million). “The first thing to do today is to blocked the destroyed dam and provide water to the population, agriculture and industry,” the orphan in the telegram channel wrote.

The Washington Post tried to predict the possible environmental consequences from the breakthrough of the dam. The first thing that is noticeable now is the mass death of animals in flooded territories, as well as fish -due to a decrease in water level in the Kakhovsky reservoir. Other consequences may entail the reservoir’s shallowing: Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk region that eat from it will experience a lack of drinking water. The Kakhovsky reservoir is used to cool the reactors of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant: there is a risk that the operation of the power plant is violated. The North Crimean Canal, supplying Crimea with water from the Dnieper, may shake , and then problems with the supply of water will also begin on the peninsula. At risk and agriculture of the south of Ukraine.

The head of the Ukrainian shipping administration Yevgeny Ignatenko said that the Dnieper below Zaporozhye would cease to be navigable for a long time: “Due to the sharp flooding of territories, the infrastructure of ports and terminals located in the region has been sank from the system.”

In general, it is difficult for the authorities to assess the amount of damage that the destruction of the dam caused to the region. “The consequences of the tragedy will be clear about a week in a week. In simple language, when the water leaves. It will be clear what remains there, what will happen next, ”Vladimir Zelensky said on June 6.

The UN and the European Union announced that they are ready to help Ukraine deal with the humanitarian and environmental consequences of the disaster. The UN will direct the humanitarian mission for the evacuation of people with the left -off department of the Dnieper occupied by Russia, provided that the Russian side will ensure a safe passage to these territories. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Layen said that the European Commission is coordinating the work of the EU member states, which are going to deliver drainage pumps, fire hoses, and mobile water purification and boat purification stations to Ukraine.

How to help the victims?

1. After the collapse of the hydroelectric power station, the inhabitants of the left bank created a telegram chat “Oleshki - organized by Evakuatsia at once !!!”, in which they are collected for applications to the victims. To help volunteers, you can transfer cryptocurrency on the details: 0x521b4c0922A27B92A5E0FED6C6C1Be4EA836 (Ethereum and all tokens on it, including USDT and USDC).

If you live in Crimea, you can provide the area where clothes, food, water and medicines for evacuated people will be stored. To do this, write here .

1. Diana Ramazanova from the center for helping refugees and forced immigrants collects money to buy boats (you need boats with a motor or simply weighted because the inflatable demolitions) and searches for people who can pass their boat for a while.

You can help financially through a chatbot or write directly to Diana Ramazanova, if you know a store where you can buy a boat near the Kherson region.

1. The “Support Service” project chose three Ukrainian initiatives that are already helping to evacuate people in the Kherson region. You can help Ukrainian organizations directly ( at this link ) or through the collection of “support services”. You can join the ruble or currency collection.

2. The Helping to Leave charity project is evacuated from the entire territory of Ukraine, but now has shifted the focus to the flooded areas of the Kherson region. You can help by providing boats , water in large volumes or financially (in currency, SWIFT transmission or in crypt).