The destruction of the Kakhovka HPP: what is happening now

Russian troops blew up the dam of the Kakhovska hydro-electric power station last night. It happened around 2:30.

As a result of the explosion of the engine room from the inside, the Kakhovskaya HPP was completely destroyed - the plant cannot be restored.

The following cities were completely or partially flooded: Tyaginka, Lvivka, Odradokamenka of Berislav district, Ivanovka, Nikolskoe Tokarevka, Poniatovka, Belozerka, the Ostrov district of Kherson district.

About 16,000 people on the right bank of the Kherson region are in the critical zone.

Evacuation is arranged by buses to Kherson, on to Mykolaiv and from there to Khmelnytskyi, Odessa, Kropivnitskyi, Kyiv and other cities. UZ has also scheduled an evacuation train from Kherson to Mykolaiv for 12:00.

Details

Kakhovska HPP is completely destroyed. The station is not recoverable - Ukrhydroenergo

According to a preliminary forecast, the reservoir is expected to break down over the next 4 days. The uncontrolled decline in the level of the reservoir poses an additional threat to the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP," it said.

The water has gushed downstream and will flood settlements in the coastal zone on the left bank, which is in the lowlands where the occupants are - probably in this way they hope to disrupt the plans of the AFU to cross the Dnieper and carry out a landing.

Civilians will suffer, many of whom will have to leave their homes. The blowing up of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam would also cause problems with the water supply in Crimea and could create a critical situation at the Zaporizhzhya NPP.

The right bank is also flooded, residents are already being evacuated, including from Kherson.

The water will reach the critical mark at about 11 o'clock.

This was stated by the head of Kherson regional council Samoilenko. According to him, now the water has already passed half of the way. The Korabel district is partially flooded in Kherson, but the situation is not critical in the city itself.

Reaction of the authorities

By destroying the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam, Russian occupiers are only confirming to the world that they must be expelled from every corner of the Ukrainian land, President Vladimir Zelensky said in the first Telegram reaction to the terrorist ecocide.

Eighty settlements are at risk of flooding - Prime Minister Shmygal.

The Prosecutor-General's Office said an investigation into the bombing of the Kakhovka hydropower plant has been launched under the article "ecocide".

russia destroyed the Kakhovka dam, causing perhaps the biggest technological disaster in Europe in decades and endangering the lives of thousands of civilians," Kuleba

The foreign minister called it a heinous war crime.

The only way to stop Russia, the greatest terrorist of the 21st century, is to kick it out of Ukraine.

Russian Armed Forces 205 motorized rifle unit could have blown up Kakhovska HPP - Podolyak

Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to the OP's head, said this on the Breakfast Show.

In his turn, he noted that blowing up the hydropower plant might cause adjustments to Ukraine's plans of a counteroffensive, but strategically it will not change anything, even prompting a desire to de-occupy Ukraine as soon as possible.

What is happening now in Kherson Oblast

The Korabel neighbourhood in Kherson has been de-energized due to flooding caused by the occupants blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant.

The Korabel neighbourhood in Kherson is de-energised and in a few hours the gas supply will also be cut off for safety reasons," Roman Mrochko, head of the Kherson city military administration, said on Telegram.

The difficult situation will be on the left bank of the Kherson region, it is lower.

This was reported by Natalia Gumenyuk, press secretary of the Operational Command "South" in the telethon.

According to Gumenyuk, the Russians blew up part of the structure of the Kakhovka hydropower plant.

Having realized what they have done, they are now evacuating themselves. Because the left bank will be primarily affected, because it is geographically lower, she said.

As of 10:00 am, 742 people have already been evacuated

We are working. We are helping the citizens in the liberated right-bank part of Kherson region. We are worried about our people who remained in the temporarily occupied left-bank part of the region, because for Russian terrorists life has no value, - commented the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Igor Klimenko.

Water is arriving. The situation is complicated by the fact that some roads are being washed out. This makes it impossible to travel to certain settlements. Evacuation teams are looking for other routes.

Is there a threat to ZNPP

The water level in the Kakhovka reservoir is dropping rapidly as a result of an explosion, which poses an additional threat to the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP.

This was reported by Enerhoatom.

Water from the Kakhovka reservoir is needed to ensure that the plant gets a feed for the condensers of the turbines and the safety systems of Zaporizhzhia NPP.

Now the station cooling pond is full: as of 8:00 a.m., the water level is 16.6 meters, and this is enough for the needs of the plant," the company said.

Water level in the Dnipro River in Zaporizhzhya drops

Local publishers write that the water has receded by 10 meters.

Russian reaction

Russian propaganda tried to accuse Ukraine of undermining the Kakhovka hydropower plant, but one of the occupants let it slip.

Propagandists have started to break fakes that the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant was allegedly destroyed by Ukraine with strikes from the rocket launcher Olha.

This was reported by the TV channels NTV, rt in Russian, propagandist Vladimir Solovyov and a number of other Kremlin media resources.

Meanwhile, Russian occupant Guzenko, who serves in Kherson Region, recorded a video message where he admitted that it was the Russian army that blew up the dam of the Kakhovska hydroelectric power plant and called for blowing up other dams on the Dnieper.

One of the popular military z-publiks transparently hinted that the occupants knew about the preparation of the attack.

As for our positions on "our" bank of the Dnieper. As you may have noticed earlier, there were few of them in the flooded area. The main positions were equipped out of the range of water.

Recall that in October 2022 President Vladimir Zelensky directly accused Moscow of preparing to blow up the hydroelectric dam and warned that this could lead to a "large-scale disaster".

At the time, he warned - the Ukrainian authorities have information that the Russian military has mined the dam and units of the Kakhovka hydro-electric power plant.

Now a video has appeared on the network, as the mines installed on the banks are washed away by the current and they randomly detonate.