Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant: 150 tonnes of engine oil flows into Dnipro river

At least 150 tonnes of machine oil has spilled into the Dnipro River due to the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), and there is a risk of further leakage of over 300 tonnes. 80 settlements are in the flood zone.

Source: members of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDC) at an emergency meeting on 6 June, the president's website

Details: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defence Council regarding the situation at the Kakhovka HPP.

The NSDC members were informed that at around 02:50 on Tuesday, Russian forces carried out an internal detonation of the structures of the Kakhovka HPP. All emergency services and the military were immediately informed.

The members of the National Security Council were informed that at least 150 tonnes of machine oil has spilled into the Dnipro River, and there is a risk of further leakage of more than 300 tonnes.

A total of 80 settlements are in the flood zone. There are no casualties among the civilian population or the military.

An order has been given to evacuate civilians from the areas at risk and to provide drinking water to settlements that depend on the Kakhovka Reservoir for their supply.

Staff at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant are keeping the situation under control and "have tools in the event of any developments", members of the NSDC said.

The Security Council meeting heard reports from Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko; Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba; Ihor Syrota, General Director of UkrHydroEnergo [the company to which the Kakhovka HPP belongs – ed.]; Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi, First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources; and Petro Kotin, President of Energoatom [Ukraine’s national nuclear energy company – ed.].

Read also: Flooded South: the consequences of blowing up the Kakhovka dam (in brief)

Background:

• On the night of 6 June, Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, destroying the turbine hall and the plant itself; the HPP cannot be repaired. UkrHydroEnergo expects the reservoir to be drained within the next four days. A fall in the water level of the Kakhovka reservoir threatens the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
• Water from the reservoir has begun to flood cities and villages, and the evacuation of the local population from dangerous areas has begun. As a result of the explosion at the Kakhovka HPP dam, water supply problems have begun in Kryvyi Rih, Marhanets and Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
• Nataliia Humeniuk, head of the press centre of Operational Command Pivden (South), said that the Russian invaders lost their nerve while waiting for the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to start, so they blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant hoping to stop it.
• The Armed Forces of Ukraine said the Russians’ blowing up of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant will not prevent the Defence Forces from continuing to liberate the occupied territories.
• A week before the Kakhovka HPP was blown up, Russian authorities decided not to investigate accidents at hazardous facilities that are due to "military actions" and terrorist attacks.
• According to preliminary reports, the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant was blown up by the 205th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and some of the names of those involved are known.

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