Yevhen Khlobystov, an expert of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, commented on the undermining of the Kakhovka dam by Russian troops and assessed the consequences of this man-made disaster.
“First of all, this is a violation of Article 56 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, to which Russia is a signatory. This situation is one of the manifestations of the ruthless and criminal policy of the Russian authorities against Ukraine, given the potential consequences for Europe and the world. The consequences of this crime on the part of the aggressor country are the flooding of a huge area downstream of the Dnieper, which is especially dangerous for the low left bank. Environmental problems concern water pollution due to the flooding of places of organized and unorganized storage of household waste, means of increasing productivity at agricultural enterprises, changes in the integrity of ecosystems, waterlogging of the territory, the territory where the Russian military was located will be under water, with possible mines and the location of explosive substances by them, etc. The formation of a new ecological reality has an impact on the environment of the south of Ukraine, affects the provision of water supply to the population of the Kherson region, and will indirectly affect the Crimea, because it can lead to a complication of the epidemiological situation in the North of the Crimea, as well as cause water pollution in the Dnieper-Buh estuary. Flooding of household objects can lead to the mass spread of infectious diseases in the south of Ukraine, in particular in the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea”,- Khlobystov noted.
The expert noted that the undermining of the Kakhovka HPP dam leads to the flooding of agricultural lands and arable fields in the south of Ukraine, which can trigger a food crisis not only in Ukraine, but also in the whole world. Among other things, it threatens the safe functioning of the ZNPP, increases the potential global nuclear threat.
Khlobystov added that another act of crime confirms the focus of the Russian aggression on the destruction of Ukraine and its people, causing irreparable environmental damage to humanity as a whole.