Kakhovka HPP explosion: Hundreds of people killed in Russian-occupied territory
The aftermath of the Kakhovka HPP explosion (Getty Images)
At least a hundred people have lost their lives during the flood following the explosion caused by Russians at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP). The authorities under the control of the aggressor country deliberately and significantly downplayed the number of casualties, according to the Associated Press.
Russia itself claimed that only 59 people drowned in the territory under its control after the dam of the Kakhovka HPP was blown up.
An investigation by AP revealed that the number of fatalities is at least a hundred in just the occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region. At that time, the city was one of the most densely populated areas affected by the flood, with around 16,000 residents.
Journalists point out that the exact number of casualties in Oleshky and the region as a whole may never be known, even when Ukrainian forces regain the territory and are able to conduct on-site investigations.
The agency emphasizes that the Russian authorities took control of issuing death certificates, promptly removing the bodies of individuals for whom there were no statements from relatives, and did not allow local medical workers and volunteers to deal with the deceased, threatening them.
AP spoke with three medical workers who kept records of the dead in Oleshky and one volunteer who hid bodies, stating that later she was threatened by the Russian police. They also talked to two informants who provided intelligence from this area to the Ukrainian side.
The Russian authorities did not respond to the journalists' requests for comment.
Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant incident
Russian military blew up the dam of the Kakhovka HPP in the Kherson region on June 6. Following this, parts of the territories in the Kherson, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions were flooded.
According to the Kyiv School of Economics, the direct damages caused by the Russian sabotage of the Kakhovka HPP amount to at least 2 billion dollars.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, the Russian sabotage of the Kakhovka HPP primarily has significant humanitarian and ecological consequences for both the affected region and its neighbors.
