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Defense Ministry: Russian forces mined a large number of hydraulic structures

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by Kate Tsurkan

Russian forces have mined a large number of hydraulic structures in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, Major Vladyslav Dudar, a representative of the Defense Ministry, reported on June 13.  

"They are currently blowing up small hydraulic structures every day in various populated areas," Dudar said.

According to Dudar, the environmental consequences of these actions are currently limited, impacting only the agricultural lands of one or two villages. Nevertheless, this deliberate environmental sabotage is occurring on a regular basis.

The damages caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on June 6 are already being felt in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Mykolaiv oblasts, where there are problems with the water supply.

The Kakhovka reservoir draining as a result of the dam's destruction has also cut off the water supply to Russian-occupied Crimea "for at least a year," according to Ukrhydroenergo Ihor Syrota, and the ongoing occupation limits Ukrainian authorities' resources to resolve the issue in the immediate future.

The Agriculture Ministry reported on June 7 that 10,000 hectares of arable land on the west bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast are expected to be flooded after the disaster at the Kakhovka dam, and a "significantly larger area" on the Russian-occupied east bank will likely also be impacted.

Ukrainian authorities will be faced with a massive economic disaster spanning several oblasts for years to come following the end of Russia's all-out war.

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What are the consequences of the Kakhovka dam’s demolition?
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam can lead to serious humanitarian, ecological, economic, military, and legal consequences. The demolition was carried out by Russian forces in southern Ukraine in the early hours of June 6. And it’s among the most dramatic violations of the Geneva Conventions in…
The Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov
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Kate Tsurkan

Culture Reporter

Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes mostly about culture-related topics. Her newsletter Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan, which focuses specifically on Ukrainian culture, is published weekly by the Kyiv Independent and is partially supported by a generous grant from the Nadia Sophie Seiler Fund. Kate co-translated Oleh Sentsov’s “Diary of a Hunger Striker,” Myroslav Laiuk’s “Bakhmut,” Andriy Lyubka’s “War from the Rear,” and Khrystia Vengryniuk’s “Long Eyes,” among other books. Some of her previous writing and translations have appeared in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine and, in addition to Ukrainian and Russian, also knows French.

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