More misery as Ukraine rushes drinking water after dam breaks

KHERSON, Ukraine — Authorities rushed to rescue hundreds of people stranded on rooftops and supply drinking water to areas flooded by a collapsed dam in southern Ukraine, in a growing humanitarian and ecological disaster along a river that forms part of the front line in the 15-month war.

The collapse of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and emptying of its reservoir on the Dnieper River added to the misery the region has suffered for more than a year from artillery and missile attacks.

With humanitarian and ecological disasters still unfolding, it’s already clear that tens of thousands of people have been deprived of drinking water, many are homeless, crops are ruined, land mines have been displaced, and the stage is set for long-term electricity shortages.

Some residents of Russia-occupied areas hit by high water complained that help was slow in arriving, with some stranded on roofs and streets passable only by boat in scenes more like natural disasters than wars. Others refused to leave.

The first report of casualties from the disaster emerged, with a mayor reporting three dead. At least 4,000 people have been evacuated from both the Russian and Ukrainian-controlled sides of the river, officials said, with the true scale of the disaster yet to emerge in an affected area that was home to more than 60,000 people. Russia-appointed authorities in the occupied parts of the Kherson region reported 15,000 flooded homes.

The dam and reservoir, essential for fresh water and irrigation for southern Ukraine, lies in the Kherson region that Moscow illegally annexed in September and has occupied for the past year. The reservoir is also critical for water supplies to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Ukraine holds the Dnieper’s western bank, while Russia controls the low-lying eastern side, which is more vulnerable to flooding.

The high water could wash away this season’s crops, while the depleted Kakhovka reservoir would deny adequate irrigation for years. The reservoir’s loss also complicates any efforts to rebuild and restart the destroyed hydroelectric power station and ensure cooling water for any future attempts to restart the shut-down Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

A day after the dam’s collapse, the cause remained unclear, with both sides blaming each other. Some experts cited wartime damage and neglect, although others argued that Russia might have destroyed it for military reasons. Either way, concluded analyst Michael Kofman, “Russia is responsible, either by virtue of action or by virtue of the fact that it controlled the dam.”

“It’s going to lead to lasting damage to agriculture, provision of drinkable water. And it’s going to wipe out entire communities,” Kofman — who is with the Center for Naval Analyses, a U.S. research group — told “PBS NewsHour.”

Many residents had fled the region because of the fighting, but clear estimates of those remaining weren’t available.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with officials on how to provide drinking water to residents, as well as assess damage to wetlands, farms and other property from what he called “a crime of ecocide” and “a man-made strike on the environment, after which nature will have to recover for decades.”

Speaking in English in a video posted on YouTube, Zelenskyy said it was impossible to predict how much of the chemicals and oil products stored in flooded areas will end up in rivers and the sea.

Ukraine’s agriculture ministry warned, “The fields in the south of Ukraine next year can turn into deserts.”

In the Moscow-controlled city of Oleshky, Lera, 19, told The Associated Press the first floor of her home was flooded.

“Everything around us is floating. People are standing on rooftops and asking for help, but no one is evacuating them,” said Lera, who declined to give her last name for fear of reprisals.

Most Russian troops fled Oleshky shortly after the dam incident, Lera said, although a military checkpoint remains, and boats with people trying to leave have come under fire from soldiers. Her claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Mayor Yevhen Ryschuk, who left the city after the Russians took control last year, reported three dead and said hundreds of residents need to be evacuated from their roofs. He said 90% of Oleshky is flooded and facing a humanitarian crisis without electricity, potable water and food, as well as possible groundwater contamination.

Animals weren’t spared, with some pets trapped. Officials said the Kazkova Dibrova Zoo in Nova Kakhovka was under water and that “only swans and ducks could escape.”