United to win: Sweden sends 250 mine detectors to Ukraine’s flooded regions

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) will send 250 mine detectors to Ukraine to help secure the areas affected by the floods following the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) dam by Russia.

This is announced on the website of the Swedish Government, Rubryka reports.

What is the problem?

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, Ukraine's southern Kherson region, which led to the flooding of villages and towns on the rivers of Dnipro and Inhulets.

The Ukrhydroenergo state water operators stated that the Kakhovka HPP was utterly destroyed and cannot be restored. Later, the authorities banned Ukrainians from swimming in reservoirs and catching and consuming fish in the Kherson region because the flooding washed away the mines, explosives, oil products, soil, and other substances in the waters of the Dnipro River.

According to the estimates of the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi, farmers will not be able to fully use 1-1.5 million hectares of agricultural land due to the explosion of Kakhovka HPP.

The press center of Ukraine's Defense Forces warns that there may be dangerous objects in the piles of debris and garbage, which were washed away by water from the Kakhovka Reservoir and are now washing up on the coast, in particular Ukraine's southern city of Odesa, located on the Black Sea coast.

What is the solution?

"Sweden and the EU strongly condemn the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP in the Kherson region. This event shows a new level of destruction of Ukraine's critical civil infrastructure. Sweden will continue to provide strong support to Ukraine as long as it takes, and we will continue to put pressure on Russia," said Minister of Civil Defense Carl-Oskar Bohlin.

How does it work?

The equipment Sweden intends to supply soon is estimated to cost 15 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.4 million).

"Mines scattered after the dam explosion pose a serious threat to the lives and health of the civilian population in this area. The Swedish mission will help expedite the crucial demining work," Bohlin added.

Reference

As a result of Russia's blowing up the Kakhovka HPP, 80 settlements were flooded. Most of them are on the left bank of the Kherson region, which is currently occupied by Russian forces.

As of the morning of June 14, the average water level is 2.13 meters. During the night, the water fell by 32 centimeters. Three thousand one hundred three houses and 28 settlements in the de-occupied part of the Kherson region remain underwater.

The water completely drained from the villages of Zapovit, Bobrovyi Kut, and Burhunka of the Beryslav district of the Kherson region, which had flooded after the Kakhovka HPP explosion.

In the neighboring Mykolaiv region, as of June 14, the water level in the Inhulets River dropped by 2.78 meters. A69 houses were flooded, and the water receded from 226 homes. In settlements where the water level has fallen, commissions begin work on recording the damage caused by flooding.