Damages from the explosion at the Kakhovka HPP amount to $14 billion
Up to 30% of the Kherson region's nature reserve was flooded and lost as a result of the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam by Russian troops
The damage from the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station (HPP) reached about $14 billion. This was reported by the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Svitlana Hrynchuk in an interview with the Rada TV channel.
"If we talk about the material side of these losses, almost $14 billion in damages have been calculated, caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam and the loss of these water resources," she said.
According to Svitlana Grinchuk, about 30% of the Kherson region's nature reserve was flooded and lost. The volume of lost water resources is comparable to half of the reserves of some African countries. And for Ukraine, this was also felt, and therefore the problem of water supply to the affected regions is still very relevant.
Ukraine will feel the consequences of this disaster for a long time, she stressed.
The government is currently working to find new sources of water supply and is building new canals to supply the population with high-quality drinking water. In addition, foreign partners are being attracted, the Minister of Environment noted.
However, now a special ecosystem has formed in this territory and nature is gradually recovering.
"Of course, we had expectations that this land, which remained after the water left, would degrade, but, fortunately, nature here itself sided with Ukraine. Now we have willow forests growing in these territories. It develops, of course, differently, but a certain special ecosystem was formed as a result of this tragedy. Nature is really restoring itself little by little," said Svitlana Grinchuk.
In October, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the UN presented a report on the damage from the collapse of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam. Direct damage to Ukraine's infrastructure and assets is estimated at $2.79 billion, with losses of over $11 billion.
Let us recall that on June 6, 2023, the Russian occupiers blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of over 300 MW, which at that time was no longer supplying energy to the Ukrainian system due to the occupation.
As "Ukrainian Energy" reported, according to the Ministry of Environment, as of October 2024, more than 6 thousand environmental crimes in Russia have been documented, causing losses in the amount of more than 65 billion euros.
