<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/07/ukraine-dam-flood-kakhovka-reservoir-destroyed-kherson-oblast-floodwaters-peak-dnipro-river>
"The fields of southern Ukraine could “turn into deserts” by next year, the
country’s agrarian and food ministry said after the destruction of the Kakhovka
dam and the draining of its reservoir, which had irrigated one of the world’s
breadbaskets.
Ukrainian emergency services and aid organisations carried out a second day of
rescue operations to help the 42,000 people estimated to be at immediate risk
from flooding downstream of the dam, including making some forays to the
Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro River to save people cut off in
flooded towns.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the Russian occupation
authorities were “not even trying to help people”.
“This once again demonstrates the cynicism with which Russia treats the people
whose land it has captured,” Zelenskiy said.
The president also severely criticised the UN and the Red Cross who he said
were not helping the relief effort.
Many hours after the disaster, “they aren’t here”, Zelenskiy told Bild, Die
Welt and Politico. “We have had no response. I am shocked.”
Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, urged the international humanitarian
organisations to provide assistance on the occupied left bank.
“The Russian occupiers don’t even make an effort to help these people, they
have left them to perish,” Shmyhal said in English in a video posted on
Telegram. “We appeal to you to take charge of evacuating people from the
territory of Kherson Oblast occupied by Russia. We must save the lives of
people whom the occupiers have condemned to death.”
As Ukrainians along the Dnipro struggled to survive after the dam collapse,
Ukraine’s ministry of agrarian policy and food predicted an even greater
disaster next year, with global implications, as a result of the loss of the
Kakhovka reservoir, one of the largest in Europe, and its impact on some of
Ukraine’s most fertile regions.
The ministry said the loss of water in the reservoir and the four major canals
it feeds would mean an almost complete loss of irrigation systems in the
Kherson region, three-quarters lost in Zaporizhzhia, and one-third lost in
Dnipropetrovsk."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
