A senior Ukrainian official warned today, Wednesday, of the danger of floating mines that surfaced due to flooding, as well as the spread of diseases and hazardous chemicals, while inspecting the damage caused by the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, during his visit to the city of Kherson, stated that "more than 80 residential areas were affected by the disaster, which Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for."
Kubrakov blamed Russia for the dam's collapse, saying, "They did it to allow their troops to advance in this direction by flooding this part of the front line." He added, "The water is disturbing the mines that were previously planted, causing them to explode." He noted that as a result of the flooding, infectious diseases and chemicals are spreading in the water.
He mentioned that Ukraine has allocated 120 million hryvnias (approximately 3.25 million dollars) to secure water supplies in Mykolaiv in the south of the country, and 1.5 billion hryvnias have been earmarked for rebuilding water supply systems destroyed by the flood. Kubrakov stated that "Ukrainian authorities evacuated residents from 24 areas inundated by floodwaters, and at least 20 residential areas in territories occupied by Russian forces were also flooded."
Moscow denies responsibility for the dam explosion but is carrying out airstrikes on the Ukrainian energy system, with Kyiv claiming that the infrastructure of other dams has been damaged. Meanwhile, Russia accused Ukraine of sabotaging the dam to distract from a new counteroffensive it claims is "stalled."
