Fears of an ecological disaster sparked by the destruction of the Kherson dam are growing as the scale of the incident becomes clearer.
One video purportedly from the area shows a beaver on the city’s streets in Ukraine after the attack, which has been blamed on Russia.
A video shared by multiple reputable accounts on social media shows the animal on a footpath in Kherson.
Another shared clip shows a dog being rescued from flood waters.
Elsewhere, a zoo called Kazkova Dibrova, located on the bank of the Dnieper River, was completely flooded, and all 300 animals were dead, a representative said via the zoo’s Facebook account, according to the Reuters news agency.
“The park was mined, and it was impossible to evacuate the animals. We tried to save them. Every day, under fire, two workers risked their lives to go to Dibrova to feed the animals,” the representative said.
Ukraine’s military accused Russia of blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.
Beaver Takes to the Streets Following Alleged Dam Destruction by Russia
Drone footage released Tuesday and tweeted by Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky shows water gushing from the breached dam. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the attack.
Ukrainian officials said that over 80 villages had been flooded after the dam was breached, and thousands of people evacuated.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, shared the video of the beaver.
He tweeted: “Beavers were spotted in Kherson. There are a lot of beavers in that area; their habitat has been destroyed.
“Animals are also victims of the ecological catastrophe Russia caused by blowing up Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.”
A major dam in southern Ukraine collapsed Tuesday, flooding villages, endangering crops and threatening drinking water supplies as both sides in the war scrambled to evacuate residents and blamed each other for the destruction.
Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station, which sits on the Dnieper River in an area Moscow has controlled for more than a year. Russian officials blamed Ukrainian bombardment in the contested area, where the river separates the two sides.
Kherson Residents Stunned as Beaver Seeks Refuge after Alleged Dam Collapse
Russian and Ukrainian officials used terms like “ecological disaster” and “terrorist act” to describe the torrent of water gushing through the broken dam and beginning to empty an upstream reservoir that is one of the world’s largest.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it “the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades.” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
As homes, streets and businesses flooded, authorities expressed concerns about drinking water supplies, and emergency crews evacuated thousands of people from Ukrainian and Russian-controlled areas.
In the downstream city of Kherson, angry residents cursed as they tried to preserve their pets and belongings. A woman who allow her name only as Tetyana waded through thigh-deep water to reach her flooded house and rescue her dogs. They stood on any dry surface they could find, but one pregnant dog was missing. “It’s a nightmare,” she repeated, declining to give her full name.
Russian and Ukrainian authorities brought trains and buses to move residents to safety. About 25,000 people in Russian-controlled areas and 17,000 in Ukrainian-held territory should be evacuated, Ukraine’s deputy chief prosecutor Viktoriia Lytvynova said on Ukrainian television. Neither side reported any deaths or injuries.
Beaver Sightings Reported in Kherson as Authorities Investigate Russian Involvement
A satellite photo Tuesday morning by Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press showed more than 600 meters (over 1,900 feet) missing from the wall of the 1950s-era dam.
The dam break, which both sides long feared, added a stunning new dimension to Russia’s war, now in its 16th month. Ukrainian forces were widely seen moving forward with a long-anticipated counteroffensive in patches along more than 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) of the fore line in the east and south.
It was not immediately clear why either side might destroy the dam, and its collapse might have resulted from gradual degradation. Both Russian-controlled and Ukrainian-held lands were at risk.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu charged that Ukraine destroyed the dam to prevent Russian attacks in the Kherson region after what he alleged was a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive. He claimed Ukraine had lost 3,715 troops and 52 tanks since Sunday and — in a rare acknowledgement of Russia’s losses — said 71 Russian troops were killed and 210 wounded. Ukraine followed its standard practice of not commenting on its casualties.
Zelenskyy told reporters his government knew last year that Russia had mined the dam, so “there may come a moment when an explosion occurs.” Other Ukrainian officials alleged Russia blew up the embankment to hinder Kyiv’s counteroffensive, even though observers note that crossing the broad Dnieper would be highly challenging. Analysts say other sectors of the front line are more likely avenues of attack.
