Foreign Wars and conflicts

The dam disaster

Kakhovka, the slaughter of fish

Flooding downstream, dry lands and death upstream of the destroyed dam. Thousands of fish rot on the banks of the Kakhovka reservoir, a sign of an environmental catastrophe still impossible to calculate

08/06/2023

They are everywhere, the smell can be felt from afar.
Thousands upon thousands of dead fish dot the now dry shores of the Kakhovka reservoir, after the destruction of the dam. The waters, about 18 billion liters, have flowed downstream flooding a huge area. Upstream everything remained dry.

"What we see is an ecological catastrophe, the level has dropped so fast that the fish in the basin have not been able to swim to deeper waters," says an elder in the village of Marianske: "The dimensions of this horror are still impossible to calculate."

Residents have attempted to build a makeshift dam to save at least some of the aquatic animals.
"We are in the breeding period: many fish die, also from pollution, and so the birds that feed on the fish will die", adds an expert from the Center for Environmental Initiatives Eco Action.