Russia’s largest dam breach has left a national park completely submerged and drained in the Dnieper delta occupied by Moscow
In a Facebook post, Ruslan Strilets said that the dam’s collapse left one national park completely submerged, drained rivers and lakes in other protected areas, and could lead to groundwater rising in parts of the Dnieper delta occupied by Moscow, creating the risk of further flooding.
Spanning an area of more than 2,000 square kilometres, the dam’s reservoir is the country’s largest in terms of water volume. Russian forces have been controlling the dam for more than a year.
More than 20,000 people have left their homes across dozens of settlements, including on the lower left bank of the river, due to the flood caused by the breach. The deluge is expected to continue for at least a week.
Before the breach, the Kakhovka reservoir held more than 19 cubic kilometres of water. “Now, there are only 11 cubic kilometres of water left,” said Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi, Ukraine’s deputy minister of environmental protection and natural resources at a press briefing on 8 June.
Over 600,000 people in southUkraine have access to the drinking water of the reservoir. The United Nations says that there are no water supplies for the cities on the Dnieper River.
Roger Falconer says that there will be no water for irrigation canals in the area as the water level in the dam drops. It could affect crops downstream and upstream.
According to the Ukranian environment ministry, floods have submerged tens of thousands of hectares of farms and arable lands. “We will not be able to cultivate agricultural plants on this soil for many years ahead,” said Krasnolutskyi. Falconer adds that the floods could wash fertilizers used on agricultural land into the river, where they could disrupt aquatic ecosystems.
The sudden surge of water downstream has had immediate and far-reaching impacts on the biodiverse ecosystems. “Nearly 160,000 animals and 20,000birds are under threat because of the catastrophe,” said Krasnolutskyi.
Water shortages in the Kakhovka reservoir: water supply, cooling towers, and sowdow grasses for the future development of the European nuclear power plant
There are some rare species that can only be found in this area. These include the globally endangered Nordmann’s birch mouse (Sicista loriger), according to a report by the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group (UNCG) in Vasylkiv.
There are a number of fish species in the Kakhovka lake. The rapid draining of its water means that vast numbers of fish will be either stranded in shallow, dried-up zones, or swept away to sea, where they will perish in the salt water.
Nine sites in Ukraine’s Emerald Network, a European-wide conserved area, as well as five internationally important wetlands have been flooded. The environment ministry says around 200,000 hectares of forest has been covered with water that is expected to remain stagnant for 20 days.
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzia, is located around 150 kilometres upstream of the Kakhovka dam. The International Atomic Energy Agency states that the plant has been shut down for more than 8 months but still needs water for cooling due to the residual decay heat of its six reactors.
If the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir drops too low to supply cooling water, Zaporizhzia can switch to alternative water supplies. Two cooling towers that can be used for atmospheric cooling and only need a small amount of water to work are available, according to an energy scientist.
Falconer says that if the water level continues to fall, it will go back to the baseline level before the dam was built.
Vasyliuk says it will be necessary to sow meadow grasses in these areas so the wind won’t blow away the silt at the bottom of the dried reservoir.
Ukrainian Defense Forces in the Strike Against Counter-Ofensive and Defensive Operations in the Dnieper River Region
The Ukrainian president said Saturday that counter-offensive and defensive actions are under way against Russian troops as they fight along the front line.
Trudeau, the first foreign leader to visit Ukraine since devastating floods caused by a breach in a Dnieper River dam, offered up monetary, military and moral support. He pledged 500 million Canadian dollars ($375 million) in new military aid, on top of more than 8 billion Canadian dollars ($6 billion) that Canada has already provided since the war began in February 2022, and announced 10 million Canadian dollars ($7.5 million) for humanitarian assistance for the flood response.
He cited the names of five of the top military leaders in his country and said he was in touch with them every day. Everyone is positive. Pass this on to Putin.”
Ukraine’s General Staff said Saturday that “heavy battles” were ongoing, with 34 clashes over the previous day in the country’s industrial east. It said thatRussian forces were defending themselves and that they had launched air and artillery strikes in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Western analysts have said that fiercer fighting and use of reserve troops suggest the counteroffensive was underway, though top Ukrainian authorities have stopped short of announcing it. The recent Western injections of billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment to Ukraine has raised expectations about when and how it would be used.
For the past few months, commanders in the eastern city of Bakhmut have been using the terminology of counteroffensive and defensive operations in order to describe the activity there.
“The epicenter of the fighting is mostly in the eastern region of the country, but there are battles in other areas as well”, said the deputy defense minister.
Russia’s defense to the west was being searched for by the armed forces of Ukraine, according to a spokesman.
Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear agency, said in a statement late Friday that there was “no direct threat” to the Zaporizhzhia plant due to the breach of the Kakhovka dam further down the Dnieper River, which has forced thousands of people to flee flooding and also sharply reduced water levels in a reservoir used to help cool the facility.
The power units at the site were out of commission for nearly a year. The I Atomic Energy Agency’s head is going to visit Ukraine.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/10/1181512637/zelenskyy-ukraine-counteroffensive
Water levels decreased in the Kharkiv and Poltava areas during a massive drone attack on Ukraine’s northern hemisphere
In Ukraine’s northeast, a 29-year-old man was killed as more than 10 drones targeted the Kharkiv region, its governor, Oleh Syniehubov, reported Saturday. He said that three other people were wounded.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that three people were killed and more than two dozen wounded overnight in an attack targeting the Black Sea port of Odesa. A pregnant woman and two children were among the wounded, according to a southern operational command spokeswoman.
In the Poltava region further west, there was damage to a military airfield struck overnight during a Russian drone and missile attack, local Gov. Dmytro Lunin reported. Lunin said there was no one hurt. As of Saturday morning, there was no additional comment from the Ukrainian army or officials on the extent of the damage.
Water levels have declined in a vast area under the destroyed dam as a result of the fighting and civilian casualties.
The Ukrainian Environment minister warned that many of the natural areas in the Kherson region could be destroyed by flooding.
In the city of Kherson, whose outskirts were among the flood-hit areas, the average water level decreased by 31 centimeters (12 inches) during the night, but remained over 4.5 meters (15 feet) higher than usual, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin reported Saturday.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the U.N.’s humanitarian aid chief said that hundreds of thousands of people were in need of water.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/10/1181512637/zelenskyy-ukraine-counteroffensive
The German chancellor has promised to speak with Putin in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian invasion and wants to continue speaking with Putin
On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he wants to continue speaking with Putin — whose order for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been criticized by many Western leaders — and plans to do so again “soon.” Scholz has spoken several times by phone with Putin since the invasion.
The withdrawal of Russian troops is one of the reasons for a fair peace between Russia and Ukraine, according to the chancellor. He said that it needs to be understood.
The U.K. has provided Ukraine 1.5 billion pounds in economic and humanitarian assistance since the war began, according to the government.