Photo: Ukrhydroenergo
What happened?
On 6 June 2023, at about 2:30 am, the Russian occupiers blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP), which led to a man-made disaster and an environmental emergency.
According to Ukrhydroenergo, the Ukrainian hydro power operator, the Kakhovka HPP was completely destroyed by a bombing of the engine room from the inside, and the plant is beyond repair. The water level in the reservoir is falling rapidly — about 15 cm per hour.
Russian troops seized Kakhovka HPP in the first hours of the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. Since then, it has been under full Russian control in the occupied territory.
What is Kakhovka HPP?
The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) was built in the mid-1950s and is the last stage of the Dnipro hydroelectric cascade. It is located in the south of Ukraine, 5 km from the town of Nova Kakhovka (Kherson region).
The dam at Kakhovka HPP is strategically important not only because of its energy capacity, but also because it connects the right and left banks of the Dnipro River (road and railway bridge crossings over the dam).
Kakhovka HPP ensures the annual regulation of the Dnipro river flow for electricity supply, irrigation and water supply in the arid regions of southern Ukraine, and navigation from Kherson to Zaporizhzhya.
Today, the capacity of Kakhovka HPP is 334.8 MW.
82 years ago, Ukraine already had the opportunity to see the consequences of blowing up a powerful hydroelectric dam. On 18 August 1941, the Soviet army and the NKVD, retreating amid the advance of Nazi Germany, blew up the Dnipro dam in Zaporizhzhia.
Consequences of the Kakhovka HPP dam break
1. DEHYDRATION EMERGENCY
According to the Ministry of Ecology, about 200,000 Ukrainians are already experiencing problems with drinking water due to the critically low water level in the Kakhovka reservoir.
It is expected that more than half a million residents of Kryvyi Rih and a number of other settlements may also be left without water. By blowing up the dam at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, the occupiers also destroyed the possibility of supplying Dnipro water to Crimea. The water level in the Kakhovka reservoir is so critical that water will not be able to flow through the North Crimean Canal below the level of 14 metres.
2. BLACK SEA ECOCIDE
According to the President’s Office, at least 150 tonnes of machine oil has leaked into the Dnipro and there is a risk of further leakage of more than 300 tonnes.
Also, as the Ministry of Environment notes, the release of a large amount of suspended particles into the Black Sea basin will increase water turbidity and make it difficult for fish and other aquatic life to breathe.
Washing away agrochemicals, biological waste, and oil products from the soil surface and getting them into the sea will cause a catastrophe. Since dead animals can remain in the Dnipro River, its tributaries and the Black Sea for some time after a natural disaster and become a source of pollution with extremely toxic substances, it is necessary to constantly monitor the concentration of pollutants in water bodies to which access is restricted by the occupiers.
3. DESTRUCTION OF THE FLORA
The breach of the Kakhovka HPP dam will have a negative impact on the waters, coastal areas and land areas of three Ukrainian national nature parks — Nizhnedniprovsky, Kamianska Sich, Svyatoslav’s Bila Berezhzhia, the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve (included in the UNESCO International Network of Biosphere Reserves), the Kinburn Spit Regional Landscape Park and numerous nature reserve sites with smaller areas.
These areas also have the status of internationally important wetlands protected under the Ramsar Convention and are Emerald Network sites protected under the Bern Convention.
4. PROVOKING A GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY CRISIS
The lowering of the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir means that it is impossible to irrigate fields with Dnipro water and, accordingly, the impossibility of farming in the south. This poses a threat to food security not only for Ukraine but for the entire world.
According to the calculations the Ukrainian Hydromelioration Systems state agency, irrigation will not be possible in Kherson Oblast for 2–3 years.
Kherson region has 426,800 hectares of irrigated land, or 21.6% of the total area of agricultural land. Water is supplied to these areas by a powerful pumping station of the Kakhovka Main Canal, which was probably damaged.
5. POPULATION IN DANGER IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Since the left bank of the Kherson region, which is currently under occupation, is located in a lowland (compared to the right bank), the residents of the occupied territories will bear the brunt of the impact. According to the President of Ukraine, up to 70 settlements below the dam will be flooded; most of them are located on the left bank, which makes it difficult to evacuate and provide urgent assistance to the population.
The destruction of the Kakhovka HPP dam also made it impossible to operate the North Crimean Canal, which delivers fresh water to the south of Kherson region and the occupied peninsula. Residents of Crimea report interruptions in the supply of water, with many households receiving highly contaminated water that is unfit for consumption.
Russians were preparing to blow up Kakhovka HPP: evidence
A week before the explosion at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, the Russian authorities allowed not to investigate accidents and terrorist attacks at hazardous facilities. Thus, on 30 May 2023, the government of the Russian Federation adopted Resolution №873. According to Clause 10, “until 1 January 2028, no technical investigation of accidents at hazardous industrial facilities and accidents of hydraulic structures that occurred as a result of hostilities, sabotage and terrorist acts shall be conducted”.
In October, Zelenskyy warned that the occupiers had mined the dams and units of the Kakhovka HPP.
“We have information that Russian terrorists have mined the dams and units of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. This is one of the largest energy facilities. The dam of this hydroelectric power plant contains about 18 million cubic metres of water. If Russian terrorists blow up this dam, about 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be in the flood zone,” Zelenskyy said.
Also, in October 2022, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Danilov, confirmed the fact that the Kakhovskaya HPP has been mined by the Russian army “with a huge amount of explosives”.
According to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov, Russian troops were previously observed transporting explosives and equipment for the planned controlled explosion.
One of the Russian military propagandists, Yegor Guzenko, who serves in the Russian occupation contingent in the Kherson region, said in his Telegram channel that “If everything goes according to plan — there are more hydropower plants on the Dnipro, which are worth dealing with. Apparently, alluding to the undermining of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant by the Russians.
Update on the consequences of the destruction of Kakhovka HPP
As of 16:00, 1,339 people evacuated — Cabinet of Ministers
According to preliminary information, 13 settlements on the right bank of the Dnipro River and more than 260 houses have been flooded.
According to the maps of possible flooding, the risk zone is mainly on the left bank of the Dnipro.
About 16,000 people on the right bank of the Kherson region are in the critical zone.
Details of the explosion
Russian troops seized the main building of the North Crimean Canal and the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in Kherson region in February 2022.
According to the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the Russian occupiers mined the Kakhovka HPP in April last year, and in October they additionally mined the gateways and supports of the HPP.
Since at least October 2022, during the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ counteroffensive, the Russians have been planning to blow up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station to prevent further advance of Ukrainian forces.
In particular, the Telegram channel of the 205th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces indicated that the dams had already been mined in accordance with the Russian General Staff’s plan for potential explosion. Even then, Ukrainian intelligence officers warned that the Kakhovka Reservoir dam and the units of the Kakhovka HPP were in danger of being destroyed.
“For more than a year now, Russia has been controlling both the dam and the entire Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. It is physically impossible to blow it up somehow from the outside — by shelling. It was mined. It was mined by the Russian occupiers and blown up by them. An absolutely deliberate, prepared explosion. They knew exactly what they were doing,” President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Immediately after the dam was blown up, the Russian occupation administration warned the local population of its actions, and within hours, Russian telegram channels announced that a small section of the hydroelectric power station had been blown up. However, when the water level began to rise catastrophically, the rhetoric of the Russian media shifted to accusing the Ukrainian Armed Forces of attacking the hydroelectric power station.
The terrorists’ goal is obvious:
to create obstacles to the offensive actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces;
seize the military initiative for a while;
to scare global community;
reduce instrumental support for Ukraine.
This once again confirms that the Kremlin is not thinking strategically, but rather about short-term situational advantages. But the consequences are already catastrophic.
International accountability for ecocide crimes
1. The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (the Dnipro River is a transboundary river), concluded on 17.03.1992 in Helsinki (Finland). Ukraine acceded on 01.07.1999 by adopting the Law of Ukraine “On the Accession of Ukraine to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes” №801-XIV.
2. The Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution (harmful substances that may be released downstream into the Black Sea), signed in 1992 in Bucharest. The Convention was ratified by Ukraine in accordance with the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine №3939-XII of 04.02.1994.
3. Geneva Convention (Article 56 of Additional Protocol I of 1977):
Article 56 — Protection of works and installations containing dangerous forces
Works or installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such an attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population. Other military objectives located at or in the vicinity of these works or installations shall not be made the object of attack if such an attack could cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.
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