The UN Environment Program published a "rapid environmental assessment" of the occupiers' detonation of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam, which indicated the "unclear" scale of the disaster, which will be felt for decades.
This assessment was conducted at the request of the Ukrainian government, reports Ukrinform.
"This is a far-reaching environmental disaster that goes beyond the borders of Ukraine, the scale of which may not be clear for many years or even decades," UN Secretary General Stephane Dujarric said at a press briefing in New York.
The assessment found that while flooding downstream has caused significant environmental loss and damage, the situation upstream of the dam is even more significant.
Dujarric emphasized that the blasting led to the release of chemical pollutants, including machine oil and liquid fertilizers. After all, there was a significant number of facilities where chemicals were stored in the flood zone.
"This can negatively affect fauna and flora, as well as residents of the affected areas," he added.
It is noted that experts from 13 institutions in Kyiv and abroad worked on the evaluation, using:
- official data;
- satellite images;
- remote sensing due to difficulties with access to the object, which is in the combat zone.
Earlier, Ecopolitic wrote, that Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal stated that, according to preliminary estimates, the damage to the environment from the explosion of the Kakhovska HPP reached $1.5 billion.
Previously, EcoPolitic analyzed what is currently happening in the shallow Kakhovsky Reservoir and what its future might be.
