Russia’s full-scale invasion has damaged 15,000 civilian properties in Kherson Oblast, most of which are residential buildings, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin told Interfax Ukraine.
This number includes around 5,000 damaged houses that can not be restored, Prokudin said in an exclusive interview published on Sept. 1.
There are also 274 educational and sports institutions, 181 hospitals, 43 industrial facilities, and the “completely destroyed” Kherson International Airport.
Meanwhile, the Kakhovka dam disaster has caused over Hr 146 billion ( $4 billion) worth of damages only to the environment, according to the governor.
“Unique flora and fauna were destroyed, almost a third of the forests were affected (64,000 hectares), 30% of the nature reserve is at risk of disappearing, and 1,300 hectares of fields were flooded.”
Russia’s destruction of the dam had led to devastating floods in Kherson Oblast that damaged or destroyed 4,000 homes in the region, with 1,300 of them impossible to repair, Prokudin told the media outlet. The regional authorities reportedly need about $35 million to restore the rest of the houses.
Prokudin added that the total cost of damages to Kherson Oblast caused by Russian occupation has not yet been calculated as a third of the region still remains under Russian occupation.
Ukraine liberated Kherson and other regional settlements on the west bank of the Dnipro River in November 2022.
Russian forces were pushed to the river's east bank, from where they have since been firing at the liberated territories, regularly resulting in civilian deaths and injuries.