Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry predicts thousands of hectares of flooded land after Kakhovka HPP explosion

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food stated that on their website

According to preliminary estimates, approximately 10,000 hectares of agricultural land on the right bank, as well as several times more on the temporary occupied oblast’s left bank, will be flooded.

A man-made disaster will stop the water supply of 31 field irrigation systems in Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

In fact, the terrorist act at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP) left 94% of irrigation systems in Kherson, 74% in Zaporizhzhia, and 30% in Dnipropetrovsk oblasts without a water source.

"Destruction of the Kakhovka HPP will lead to such a situation when the fields in the south of Ukraine may turn into a desert next year. Not only farmers and water users, but also the sources of drinking water supply in settlements will suffer without the Kakhovka reservoir. The destruction of the Kakhovka HPP will also have negative consequences for the fishing industry. We have already recorded the death of fish, both young and adults. The spawning period has just ended, and the caviar will dry up in the flooded areas due to the drop in the water level," the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food wrote.

Photo: Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food

Another problem is the entry of freshwater fish and other biological resources in the salty water of the Black Sea and their death. The Black Sea fauna can also die from the massive influx of fresh water.

"As a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP, losses to the fishing industry from the death of only adults may reach 95 thousand tons or about UAH 4 billion. In total, according to preliminary calculations, the losses from the death of all biological resources will be up to UAH 10.5 billion. We will have negative consequences of the devastation of aquatic biological resources for several years in a row, even if the bed of the Kakhovka reservoir will be filled in the near future. Since the quantitative and qualitative composition of fish populations is renewed, the restoration of the bottom biocoenosis of the feed base will take a long time," the message said.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food emphasised that all the data are based only on preliminary estimates.

They can make final conclusions only when the water level stabilises.

• On Tuesday, 6 June, Russian occupation forces blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, which completely destroyed it. Evacuation of residents of dangerous areas began, and the President of Ukraine convened an emergency meeting of the Security and Defenсe Council, while the world began to respond en masse to the tragedy. For a detailed summary of the events, click here.

• The President of Ukraine held a meeting of the Supreme military commanders, where they discussed the situation at the front line, the readiness for a counteroffensive and Russian’s blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP. 

• Zelenskyy emphasised that the Russian Federation mined the HPP dam last year and Ukraine was ready for an explosion.

• In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the consequences of blowing up the HPP and the risks for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant with the head of the IAEA and invited him to visit Ukraine.