Kakhovka dam explosion: Ukraine’s MoD says death toll could be much higher

This was announced at a briefing by Major Vladyslav Dudar, a representative of the Environmental Safety and Mine Action Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.

According to him, it has been established that 32 people died and 28 were injured as a result of the June catastrophe.

In addition, another 39 people are still missing. However, this data does not take into account possible casualties in the temporarily occupied territories.  

"More than 68% of the flooded area is occupied territory and it is unknown how many people died there. There is some information that many (died - ed.) because Russia did not evacuate the population," Dudar emphasized.

What is known about the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP

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

On October 20, 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia was preparing to stage a new large-scale terrorist attack - to blow up the dam of the Kakhovka HPP in Kherson region. At the same time, he listed other consequences of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant explosion. 

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.

As of Saturday evening, June 10, 2023, the Ukrainian authorities have evacuated over 3,000 residents of the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. On June 11, Interior Ministry of Ukraine reported at least 46 settlements flooded.

At a meeting on July 18, the government approved a resolution on a pilot project to start rebuilding the Kakhovka HPP.

In August, Ukrhydroenergo, Ukraine’s hydropower company, noted that the development of a pilot project to rebuild the Kakhovka HPP would take two years, and its construction would take about six years.