Satellite images from Ukraine have revealed the extent of the flooding in the country’s south, after the region’s Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric station were largely destroyed.
The critical dam, which lies along the Dnipro River in Ukraine’s Kherson region – now held by Russia – collapsed on Tuesday, flooding a swathe of the war’s frontline.
Up to 100 settlements have been threatened by flooding and thousands of people have been evacuated from the local area.
Ukraine has blamed Russian occupying forces of blowing up the dam in an attempt to slow an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive. Western allies have called for investigations while offering support to Ukraine. A US official said more information would be necessary but appeared to blame Russia for the disaster.
“Why would Ukraine do this to its own territory and people, flood its land, force tens of thousands of people to leave their homes – it doesn’t make sense,” deputy US ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, said.
For its part, Russia has accused Kyiv of sabotaging the dam to deprive Russian-controlled Crimea of the freshwater it receives from the reservoir.
The satellite images taken by Maxar technologies show the devastating results of flooding in towns and villages along the Dnipro river. Over 17,000 people have been evacuated from settlements that lay in the path of the flooding.
The images show houses and buildings submerged in water, with many having only their roofs showing, and water taking over parks, land and infrastructure.
Images of the Russian occupied city of Oleshky show the extent of the flooding. Local media, citing the exiled mayor of the city, say three people have died in the flooding there.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it was impossible to predict how many people would die in Russian-occupied parts of Kherson due to the flooding, urging a “clear and rapid reaction from the world” to support victims.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the UN security council that “the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe will only become fully realised in the coming days.”
Local homes and farms have been inundated with water. Once the scale of the disaster became clear, an adviser to Ukraine’s president said, “a global ecological disaster is playing out now … and thousands of animals and ecosystems will be destroyed in the next few hours”.
Maxar said that their images covered more than 2,500 square km between Nova Kakhovka and the Dniprovska Gulf southwest of Kherson city on the Black Sea, giving some idea of the scale of the crisis.
With Reuters
