6th of June 2023 – this date will be remembered for many generations ahead as the day when “the most significant incident of damage to civilian infrastructure” occurred since 24th of February 2022. “The damage caused by the dam’s destruction means that life will become intolerably harder for those already suffering from the conflict,” Griffiths (Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator) said.
True, this is an unspeakable tragedy with long-lasting consequences to the environment, flora, fauna and, of course, first and foremost, to the civilians. The attack on Kakhovska Hydro-Electrical Power Plant (HEPP) is qualified as a non-nuclear tactical weapon with strategic effect. The Ministry of Environment Ukraine named the main consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovska HEPP by the Russians:
- Destruction of biodiversity in areas adjacent to the disaster area.
- Ingress of lubricants, chemical fertilizers, sewage effluents into the water masses.
- Mass plague of fish, birds and other fauna.
- Mass death of domestic animals during the flood.
- Restriction of access to drinking and technical water in some settlements.
- Increasing mine threat, in particular in the Black Sea.
- Impact on climate change administration for different sectors of the economy.
“We are already recording hundreds of facts of the negative impact of this tragedy on the environment. The most terrible thing is that their number will only grow,” the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine noted.
According to the regional military administration, to date, over two thousand people have already been evacuated in the Kherson region. People are accommodated in dormitories, and people with reduced mobility are sent to hospitals. Policemen and rescuers take people out of places where motor vehicles cannot reach, by boats and with the help of the "Bohun" special transport. At this, the Russian troops deliberately open fire on volunteers, rescuers and civilians who are trying to escape from the flooded areas of the Kherson region.
Relief efforts
To date, 100 tons of bottled drinking water have been delivered to the Kherson region from Poltava district and 42, 000 liters of drinking bottled water from the Trans-Carpathian region.
Besides, as reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, it was agreed that the UN will immediately form groups in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which will be sent to the affected occupied territories of the Left Bank to provide humanitarian aid and evacuate people on the condition of ensuring safe passage to the occupied territories from the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine.
As promised, UN units will go to the affected areas in the temporarily occupied territories from Ukrainian territories as soon as Russia provides access and security guarantees.
Will the untold human suffering wrought by Russia end in 2023? We should wait and see… and meanwhile, out team does its best to support, to help and care both for individuals, communities we live in and our clients.