Russia, it seems, drains a large reservoir in Ukrainian Kakhovka, which jeopardizes drinking water, agricultural production and safety of the largest Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Europe, reports National Public Radio (NPR) with reference to satellite data.
According to NPR, the discharge of water from the Kakhovsky reservoir controlled by the Russian troops in the south of Ukraine has been continuing since November 2022. As a result, according to satellite data, the water level in the lake fell to the lowest mark over the past three decades. In the pictures provided by Planet and Maxar, it is clear how, as a result of a rapid drop in the water level, the coastline changes along the reservoir.
Kakhovsky reservoir – a huge man -made lake, the last in the network of reservoirs along the Dnieper. Since the 1950s, it has been providing drinking and orphanage to the southern regions of Ukraine – Kherson and Zaporizhzhya. The 400-kilometer channel leading from the reservoir also supplies Crimea. In the summer of 2022, Russia began to remove water from the reservoir for supplies to the Crimea.
At the end of last week, the Magate said that he knew about the potential risk associated with the fall of the water level in the reservoir.
According to David Helms, an employee of the American National Oceanography and Atmosphere, Russia used the Kakhovsky reservoir for several months to replenish the reservoir network in Crimea.
During the autumn Ukrainian offensive on November 11, 2022, the retreating Russian troops blew up the road through the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, which controls the water level in the reservoir. Immediately after the explosion, the Russians, apparently, opened additional gate gates, allowing the water to pour from the reservoir. Since December, the water level in the reservoir has fallen to the lowest value over 30 years of satellite observations.
The Zaporizhzhya Regional Military Administration warns that several cities, including Energodar, Melitopol and Berdyansk, may encounter a lack of water, noting that all three cities are under Russian occupation, so there is now a little known about the situation with water supply there.
According to Helms, the intentional discharge of water is an attempt by Russia to damage the economy of Ukraine, which largely depends on the export of agricultural products. Other experts note that most agricultural areas affected by the discharge of water are located in parts of Ukraine controlled by Russia, and find it strange that Russia acts on the principle of “scorched land” in the territories that it expects to do its own.
Zaporizhzhya ova suggests that the purpose of discharge of water from the reservoir may, in particular, be the flooding of the territory south of the dam, so as not to let the Ukrainian forces force the Dnieper.