Animal genocide – animals have ‘no chance of survival’ as 55,000 hectares of forest flooded in Kherson Oblast
About 55 thousand hectares of forests in Kherson region flooded due to the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP (Photo:Photo: MOST)
About
55 thousand hectares of forests have
flooded in Kherson Oblast, mostly in Russia's occupied territories, Ukraine’s State Forest Resources
Agency head, Yuriy
Bolokhovets, was quoted
as saying on Telegram on June 8.
"The consequences are outrageous. Roughly 55,000 hectares (136,000 acres) are flooded, including 47,000 hectares (116,000 acres) in the occupied area," he said.
While plants still have a chance of survival, animals are actually doomed, including deer, wild boars, lizards, snakes, hares, and hedgehogs – they have no chances to survive, Bolokhovets said.
He noted that around 150 tons of machine oil has leaked into the Dnipro River. Its sedimentation on plants will lead to irreversible problems with photosynthesis.
Nova Kakhovka dam breach - the latest news
During the night of June 6, Russian forces, which have occupied the town of Nova Kakhovka for over a year, blew up the dam, completely or partially flooding downstream cities and towns along the Dnipro River.
A humanitarian disaster is underway on the left bank, which is under Russian occupation and suffered a great deal more due to its lower elevation.
At an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, President Zelenskyy ordered the evacuation of at-risk areas and the provision of drinking water to towns and villages served by the affected Kakhovka Reservoir.
The Kakhovska Hydroelectric Power Station is completely destroyed, with no possibility of its repair, Ukrainian state hydroelectric company Ukrhydroenergo said. The dam itself wasn’t fully destroyed, but suffered significant damage, the Ukrainian military’s South Operational Command said.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office opened an investigation on the incident under the charge of ecocide.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia's attack on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence has said that the Russian demolition of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) increases the threat of a nuclear disaster.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered Zelenskyy to create a commission of Ukraine, Russia, the UN, and the international community's experts, including Turkey, to investigate the Kakhovka HPP explosion.
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