Water has begun receding in occupied Nova Kakhovka, coffins floating in Korsunka
Following the flooding caused by the destruction of the dam at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, the water level in occupied Nova Kakhovka has begun to fall, but the city remains without electricity.
Source: Volodymyr Kovalenko, Mayor of Nova Kakhovka, on Radio Svoboda (Liberty)
Quote from Kovalenko: "As for Nova Kakhovka, the water is receding. Now it only remains in the park area, in the lower part of the city, that was flooded in the first few hours, and where the biggest wave was, with the water reaching up to six metres: in the Kazkova Dibrova area. That part is still flooded, but there is no housing there."
Details: Kovalenko also noted that there are still Russian military personnel in Nova Kakhovka.
"According to eyewitnesses, they are occupying vacant apartments on Dniprovsky Avenue, and people have told me that on the last non-flooded street in [the village of] Dnipriany, there have been instances of something that was being done two or three months ago: forced eviction," Kovalenko said.
The situation in the village of Korsunka, which is part of Nova Kakhovka, is "much more difficult and terrible", the mayor reports.
"It [the village of Korsunka] is situated in a much lower-lying area. I just spoke with a woman who lives in Korsunka: no one informed the residents that there was flooding. No evacuation was organised at all, and the water level in this village reached three metres. Today, some of the flooded houses collapsed: they were made of clay. The secondary school, the monastery, the library and the club were flooded, and the cemetery was washed away. I don't want to believe this, but a woman said: ‘I saw dead people and coffins floating around the town’," the mayor of Nova Kakhovka said.
Kovalenko said most people left Korsunka on their own. Local residents organised it themselves and took people out by boat.
At the same time, according to Kovalenko, representatives of the occupation administration asked people if they had internal Russian passports and suggested they "go to Chelyabinsk".
Now, according to the mayor, the water in Korsunka has gradually begun to subside: "Of those 3 metres, 80 centimetres are already gone."
Background:
- On the morning of 6 June, Ukraine’s Operational Command Pivden (South) reported that Russian occupation forces had blown up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), completely destroying the dam and the power plant's turbine hall. The draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir threatens the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
- The destruction of the Kakhovka HPP has caused an ecological catastrophe. Water from the reservoir has begun to flood towns and villages, and evacuations of local residents from dangerous areas have begun. As a result of the explosion, there are also problems with the drinking water supply in the towns of Kryvyi Rih, Marhanets and Nikopol.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasised that the recent disaster at the Kakhovka HPP created by the Russians will not stop Ukraine from liberating its own territory and has not increased the occupiers’ chances of staying on this land..
- After the explosion at the Kakhovka HPP, the Kazkova Dibrova Zoo in Nova Kakhovka, where about 300 animals lived, was flooded. Most of the animals died.
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