Kyslytsya tells UN Security Council about likely consequences of Kakhovka HPP explosion

Sergiy Kyslytsya, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, made a relevant statement at the UN Security Council meeting, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

“It is a matter of concern that the Russian occupiers do not organize the evacuation of civilians, although they withdrew their troops,” he said.

According to the diplomat, 17 settlements with more than 17,000 people are planned for evacuation on the government-controlled territory of Ukraine, while 20 settlements with approximately 25,000 people are subject to evacuation on the occupied territory of the left bank.

According to the current scenario, the maximum extent of the flooded territory will occur within three to five days. The right bank of the Dnipro River coastline will suffer eight times less than the left bank.

Settlements such as Oleshky and Hola Prystan may end up underwater. Partial flooding may also affect Oleksandrivka, Shyrokа Balka, Sofiivka, Vynohradne, and other villages. The water level could reach 1.5 meters or more.

The destruction of the dam will deprive or severely worsen the water supply to Crimea, Kherson region, and significantly complicate the situation in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, Kyslytsya stressed.

As noted, the reduction in the water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir will lead to a decrease in its level in all water intakes in surrounding regions, in particular, the Kakhovka Canal, which supplies water to the occupied Berdiansk and most settlements in Zaporizhzhia region.

In this context, Kyslytsya noted that President Zelensky’s Peace Formula provides for countermeasures against ecocide and called on international partners to join its implementation as soon as possible.

As reported, Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka HPP on June 6. The plant was completely destroyed as an engine room was blown up from the inside. About 80 settlements are in the flooding zone, people are evacuated.