Thibaud Hue, edited by Gauthier Delomez / Photo credits: GETTY IMAGES / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / Getty Images via AFP
The partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine worries many environmental protection associations. A wave of 18 billion liters of water has hit fertile land in the country, and several animal species are threatened by the rising waters.
This is for kyiv “one of the worst environmental disasters of recent decades”. The day after the partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, environmental protection associations are warning of the serious ecological consequences of the act. They are particularly interested in the toxicity of the wave of 18 billion liters of water which swept away everything in its path. Service stations, factories, stocks of pesticides… In total, 150 tonnes of motor oil have already been spilled into the Dnieper River and the pollution is likely to extend over more than 5,000 km2 and up to to the Black Sea.
A zoo submerged by the waves
In this polluted water, dead fish are already floating on the surface, and many species are threatened. “All living organisms in the Kakhovka reservoir are already dead or will die in the coming days,” said the Ukrainian NGO EcoAction. A few kilometers from the dam, a zoo was submerged by the waves: 300 animals died, drowned locked in their cages.
With this disaster, Ukraine will also lose a large part of its fertile land because many crops are under water. The food security of the surrounding villages is therefore now very uncertain, and the massive evacuations are still in progress because the water level continues to rise. More than 40,000 people risk being in flooded areas, the Ukrainian prosecutor general warned on Tuesday.