The Red Cross has warned that the discovery of landmines will be severely hampered by the breaking of a significant dam in southern Ukraine
A dam break in the Russian-controlled Nova Kakhovka region early on Tuesday morning prompted a swift rise in water levels downstream, necessitating a widespread evacuation.
The head of the Red Cross’ weapon contamination unit, Erik Tollefsen, cautioned that dislodged mines had raised serious worries for both residents of Kherson and those providing assistance. “We recognised where the risks were,” he said to the AFP news agency. “All that is certain is that they are someplace downstream, but we don’t know right now.”
Speaking to Ukrainian TV, Nataliya Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military South Command, said: “Many anti-infantry mines [in Russian-occupied areas] have been dislodged, becoming floating mines. Adding that they were likely to explode if they came into collision or struck debris, “They pose a great danger”, she said.
As water continues to flood down the Dnipro river, which separates territory under Russian and Ukrainian authority, thousands of residents have already been relocated from certain areas of the Kherson region.
Russia and Ukraine both accuse the other of destroying the Kakhovka dam. In the Russian-held Oleshky, there have been three flood-related fatalities reported.
Image courtesy: the Hindustan times
The town’s expelled Ukrainian mayor, Yevhen Ryshchuk, told the state-run broadcaster Suspilne that he anticipated additional casualties.
Early on Tuesday, a dam failure in the Russian-controlled Nova Kakhovka region caused a quick rise in water levels downstream, forcing a large-scale evacuation.
According to officials, 30 towns and villages down the river have been inundated, and Kherson, the Ukrainian-controlled region’s capital, has roughly 2,000 dwellings underwater.
Through the east side of the river, which is seized by Russia, a woman who arrived in Kherson aboard a rescue boat described how the situation soon became out of control after she learned about the catastrophe early on Tuesday.
“We were able to get our belongings, but the water level kept rising. My feet were submerged while I was preparing buckwheat at that very moment.” According to 40-year-old Kateryna Krupych, the flooding came on quickly. “We seem to have lived a lifetime in a single day”, she said.
Image courtesy : the guardian
According to Ihor Klymenko, the interior minister of Ukraine, there is a strategy in place to assist those on both sides of the Dnipro river. “We are devising a strategy to assist those on the [Russian-held] left bank while saving everyone on the [Ukrainian-controlled] right bank.”
He claimed that among the 30 flooded towns and villages, 20 were under Ukraine’s authority and 10 were temporarily held by Russia. Additionally, Mr. Klymenko charged that the Russians had “left people to ward for themselves.”
The massive Kakhovka reservoir, which is upstream of the dam and flows into the Black Sea, is predicted to have a devastating effect on agriculture as rising water levels are expected to reach the top in Kherson late on Wednesday.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the regional head of Kherson, reported that 1,700 people had already been evacuated, whilst Kremlin-installed authorities on the alternative side of the river reported that 1,200 had been transported to safety.
Image courtesy: the New York times
More than 40,000 people, including 17,000 in Ukraine-controlled area west of the Dnipro and 25,000 in Russian-occupied territory east, according to officials, must flee.
Damian Rance from Unicef reported that the organisation has witnessed entirely demolished homes as worries about stranded residents persist.
Safe drinking water has been disrupted in many of these sites since the reservoir there served as the source of both the water supply and the energy that has been switched off.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that there were hundreds of thousands of people without access to clean drinking water in the Kherson region.
The demolition of the dam is attributed to both parties. In addition to accusing Russia of not doing more to assist those in need in the flooded portions of the river’s Russian-occupied east bank, Ukraine claims that Russian forces mined its territory.
