War in Ukraine: Nova Khakovka, an environmental disaster for decades

Flooding caused by the explosion of the Nova Khakovka hydroelectric dam will not only cause unprecedented destruction, but will also cause lasting changes in the ecosystems and climate of southern Ukraine, turning it into a natural and human desert.


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Correspondent in Ukraine

UThe sword of Damocles has hung over the heads of Ukrainians in the south, downstream of the Dnieper, since it was revealed in the autumn of 2022 that the Russian armed forces had mined the hydroelectric dam of Nova Khakovka in the Kherson region. A catastrophic situation was triggered when a violent explosion destroyed 11 of the 28 spans of the dam on the river, sweeping away 177 meters of water, during the overnight hours of Monday to Tuesday. Subsequently, a 4 to 5 meter high wave started flowing downstream of the Nova Kagovka Dam at a speed of 25 km/h. In what Volodymyr Zelensky called a “war crime,” Russian forces thwarted plans by the Ukrainian army to cross the river to liberate occupied territories, but the Russians are responsible for the kind of environmental disaster we haven’t seen in Europe for decades. Ecosystems of southern Ukraine and the Black Sea basin can be destroyed.



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