The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in southern Ukraine has ravaged dozens of villages downstream. The ensuing flood forced the evacuation of thousands of people on both banks of the Dnieper, each controlled by one of the belligerents. Aid is being organized, despite the bombardments which are still raging.
Relief was quick to arrive after the flood was likely caused by Russian sabotage, said Roman Medvedev, Red Cross representative in Kherson, contacted by The duty. “We are provided with everything: drinking water, food, petrol, communications, electricity”. The high place of this southern region is found in the water like dozens of surrounding municipalities.
“There is a non-critical rise in the water level in the city itself,” he testifies. “The number of people who wish to leave is increasing considerably. There is a contamination of the drinking water that we draw from the basement. Afterwards, mass diseases in the population will begin. »
The most affected regions were submerged by a mass of water reaching 9.1 meters, says the Ukrainian hydroelectricity company on its Telegram page. “This Sunday, the level fell by 20 cm”, we specify.
Disaster in occupied territory
The situation is especially critical in the dozens of flood-swept villages around Kherson, where some 10,000 people had to be evacuated according to the combined estimates of the Ukrainian and Russian authorities.
The death toll stands at six dead and 35 people missing on the side of the river controlled by the Ukrainian authorities according to them. In the territories occupied by the Russians, officials installed by Moscow reported this week eight dead and 13 missing in connection with this same tragedy.
Kate Zhuzha, from the village adjoining the now destroyed dam, has been struggling for almost a week with her team from the NGO “Union of Help to Kherson” to rescue her compatriots who have been living on the roofs for days.
“People are posting in chat groups begging for help. They send coordinates to Google Maps showing where they are on rooftops or where their loved ones are. The connection does not always work, because they are always blocked as usual. And so, the situation there is really horrible,” she explains to the Duty. “I heard from my friend’s family that there were bodies floating in the water in these villages. This is how desperate the situation is. »
Evacuations become practically impossible on the eastern side of the Dnieper, controlled by the Russian army. Any rescue attempt must be made “incognito” so as not to be spotted by the Russian forces who monitor the river, this natural border which separates the two enemy armies. “I have also just been contacted by a person who is trying to travel from the liberated side to the occupied side by boat. It is really dangerous because the Russian side is shooting at these boats. Of course, they could be [l’armée ukrainienne]but they try to get there to save people, ”says Kate Zhuzha.
As proof, the governor of the region reported on Sunday three dead and 10 wounded in a bombardment that hit a boat of evacuees.
This human catastrophe is coupled with an environmental catastrophe, said Ruslan Strilets, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, online. He estimates that the situation in the national parks is “critical” and that 30% of the natural resources of the Kherson region are threatened with disappearance.