A report on the environmental impact on Kakhovka, after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on June 6, 2023.
The destruction followed a Russian occupation of the region for months, after the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
The report is dubbed ‘Submerged’.
The report launched by Project Expedite Justice (PEJ) AND Truth Hounds a the Movenpick Hotel details evidence-based findings on the potential war crimes committed in light of the disproportionality of the damage in comparison with the military objectives pursued.
"We've been assisting local victim communities especially from the Agrarian sector in addressing this crime and seeking accountability for the destruction. We’ve been looking at attacks on the civilian population, destruction of civilian infrastructure, property, illegal export of Ukrainian resources including grain and disrupting the international grain market and food security not only in Ukraine but also in Africa,” said Pascal Turlan, Legal and Program Director at Project Expedite Justice.
It also contains legal analyses examining the possibility of holding perpetrators accountable, the consequences on the region's economy and agricultural resources and the environmental impact on water resources, biodiversity, and soil health.
It also looks at the human cost of the disaster, including loss of life, displacement, and health risks.
According to Myroslava Markova, a researcher at PEJ, to date the actual extent of damage cannot be estimated as part of the Kakhovka region remains under Russian occupation.
She, however, said that from the areas occupied by Ukraine it is estimated that the damage is over $11 billion.
“The accurate assessment of the total amount of losses because of the destruction is still impossible to get because Russia still occupies the territories of some region that were affected the most but one of the most comprehensive assessment of losses so far by the Government of Ukraine and the United Nations, which covers the territory under Ukrainian control, the size of direct damage to infrastructure is almost $3 billion and the size of damage exceeds $11 billion,” Markova said.
The Kakhovka HPP Dam and Reservoir have played a vital role in southern Ukraine since they were built during the 1950s.
The Dam provided electricity, irrigation for agriculture, and drinking water for many settlements.
The dam’s destruction has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv Oblasts.
Around 600 kilometers of land was flooded.
Water levels in several cities in Kherson Oblast rose to 11 meters within hours of the breach, drowning 80 settlements across Ukraine’s south and killing hundreds.
