Explosion of Kakhovka HPP will have far-reaching consequences - UN Under-Secretary-General

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said this at a meeting of the UN Security Council. 

At least 40 settlements have already been flooded, but the number of affected villages and towns will grow. Serious consequences are also expected in the areas captured by the Russian forces, but Russia does not provide access for humanitarian missions, he noted.

“The UN and humanitarian organizations are taking emergency measures to help over 16,000 people. This includes providing the population with drinking water, cash assistance and psychosocial support. Electric generators, water filtration equipment and transportation will be sent to the affected areas,” Griffiths said.

In addition, multidisciplinary mobile teams have been deployed at railway and bus stations across the Kherson region to support those in need of evacuation.

The UN Under-Secretary-General reminded that the destroyed dam played a key role in providing water to agricultural lands in the south of the Kherson region and on the Crimean peninsula: “Prolonged flooding will disrupt agricultural activities, harm livestock and fisheries, and cause widespread long-term impacts. This is a serious blow to the food production sector.”

According to him, the destruction of the dam could have a negative impact on electricity production, and any uncontrolled decrease in the water level in the reservoir could negatively affect the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. 

He also expressed concern that the water was moving mines and other explosive devices.

Explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station

On June 6, occupying Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, completely destroying it. The evacuation of residents of the flooded areas began. After that, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy convened an emergency meeting of the Security and Defense Council, and the world began to respond to the tragedy. Follow the detailed course of events here.

In particular, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has allocated UAH 1.5 billion to build two new water mains that will help supply Kryvyi Rih, Nikopol and Marhanets with drinking water. In addition, the Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions were allocated almost UAH 846 million to meet the regions' drinking water needs.

And a number of Ukrainian cities have declared their readiness to accept southerners.

Instead, Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev, commander of the AFU Joint Forces, said that the occupiers' blowing up of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant would not affect the Ukrainian counteroffensive. And the Kyiv HPP is covered from air strikes and protected from enemy subversive reconnaissance groups.

For his part, Ukrhydroenergo CEO Ihor Syrota said that the peak of the water spill from the Kakhovka reservoir is expected in the morning of June 7. According to him, after that the situation will begin to stabilize, and in 4-5 days the water will start to subside.

And the President of Ukraine held a meeting of the supreme military command to discuss the situation at the front, readiness for a counteroffensive, and the Russian explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. He emphasized that Russia had mined the dam of the hydroelectric power plant last year, and Ukraine was ready for the explosion.

In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the consequences of the hydroelectric power plant explosion and the risks to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with the IAEA Director General and invited him to Ukraine.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy has estimated that about 10,000 hectares of agricultural land on the right bank will be flooded as a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP.

On the evening of June 6, the UN Security Council met to discuss the situation that arose after Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam. Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said that by blowing up the hydroelectric power plant, the Russians had proved that they were unable to hold the temporarily occupied territories. In turn, the UN Under-Secretary-General emphasized that the explosion of the hydroelectric power plant would have far-reaching consequences for many thousands of people.