Kakhovka dam explosion: Russia conceals, underestimates true human losses

This is stated in the AP's investigation.

The Russian authorities refused to comment to AP for this investigation but stated that 59 people drowned in the temporarily occupied territory as a result of the flood.

However, Oleshky had a population of 16,000 at the time of the flood, so the exact number of deaths is much higher and may remain unknown even after the city is de-occupied.

The journalists spoke to three medical workers who kept records of the dead in Oleshky, one volunteer who buried the bodies and said he was later threatened by the Russian police and two Ukrainian informants who passed intelligence from the area to the Ukrainian Security Service. According to their allegations, mass graves were dug and unidentified bodies were taken away, and no one saw them again.

What is known about the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP

The Kakhovka HPP has been occupied by Russian forces since February 24 last year.

On October 20, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia was preparing to stage a new large-scale terrorist attack - to blow up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant in the Kherson region. At the same time, he listed other consequences of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant explosion. Later, the head of the Kherson City Military Administration, Halyna Luhova, addressed residents in connection with Russia's preparation of a terrorist attack on the Kakhovka HPP. She published an algorithm of actions to be taken in the event of a dam blowing up.

On June 6, invading Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, completely destroying it. As a result of the tragedy, settlements in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions were flooded. For a detailed coverage of the events click here.

The United States is carefully studying the evidence in the case of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant explosion.

The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam caused almost USD 14 billion in damages to Ukraine.