Kakhovka dam flood washes away explosives to Black Sea coast

There may be dangerous objects in the piles of wreckage and garbage that were washed away by flood from the Kakhovka Reservoir after Russian forces blew up the dam. 

They are washing up on the coast, particularly in Ukraine's southern Odesa. Garbage can be removed only after inspection by explosives technicians, Natalia Humeniuk, the joint press center chief of the Southern Defense Forces, said on the air of the national telethon.

"Most importantly, everyone must remember safety, especially during any impulses of goodwill. Remember that the piles of garbage, even the debris of land that drifts and is brought to the sea, the remains of household items can have there can be dangerous objects," she said, adding the flood washes away military constructions, arms depots, mines, defensive lines that the Russians set up on the left bank.

She also said that these could be not only anchor mines that a person can recognize, but they may also be "petals," insidious and dangerous mines. 

"At the slightest touch, they explode. The explosion is powerful. It is impossible to organize even the collection of the garbage that was brought to the shore on your own. You need to turn to specialists, sappers, explosives technicians, to survey the area, and only after they have given a conclusion can you clean the coast," Humeniuk said.

Background

As Rubryka reported, on the night of June 6, Russian invaders blew up the Kakhovka HPP, located a few kilometers from the temporarily occupied city of Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region.

The death of nine people due to flooding was confirmed in the occupied city of Oleshky on the left bank of the Kherson region.

One person also died in the Mykolaiv region due to flooding after the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP.

According to the Ukrhydroenergo state water company, the water level in the Dnipro River in Kherson is 4.18 meters. During the day, the indicator decreased by 54 cm.

The explosion of the Kakhovka HPP caused an environmental disaster. As a result of the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP dam, water supply problems began in Kryvyi Rih, Marhanets, and Nikopol.

Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that the disaster at the Kakhovka HPP created by the Russians would not stop Ukraine from reoccupying its territories and has not increased the chances of the occupiers remaining on this land.