“Big water”. Eco-inspectors recorded the facts of ecocide as a result of the destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam

Employees of the Environmental State Service of the Kherson Region, who daily collect materials that confirm Russia’s crimes on the territory of Ukraine and, together with the Prosecutor General’s Office, prove the fact that Russia has committed the crime of ecocide in Ukraine due to the destruction of the Kakhovsky Reservoir dam.

On June 6, 2023, the Russian military blew up the Kakhovsky HPP, which led to the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovsky Reservoir. Thousands of cubic meters of water from the Kakhovsky Reservoir flooded dozens of villages and towns in the Kherson region.

Only after a decade will it be possible to fully assess the scale of the consequences of the disaster.

The inspector of the environmental service in Kherson, Maksym Razganyaev, together with his colleagues, goes to the sites of shelling carried out by Russia every day. Their work mostly takes place under the sound of explosions and this is a great risk for their lives. They try to take soil and water samples quickly and leave the place, because there may be a repeated hit.

On June 6, 2023, the Russian army blew up the Kakhovskaya HPP dam. Maksym Razganyaev was informed about the disaster at 5 in the morning by the Ukrainian military. He, without thinking, got into his own car and went to save people and animals.

Water flooded the streets and houses very quickly. Maksym Razgyanyaev retrieved the bodies of dead people and animals.

He found a dead person without a leg, there was some kind of injury

“My neighborhood is the lowest in the city and was the first to go underwater. Even when the area went under water, and it happened very quickly, the current was strong, boats were used to remove oil stains, in parallel with the rescuers, they helped people and saved animals as well. He found a dead person without a leg, there was some kind of injury. A pile of dead animals, a cow swollen in the sun. The smell was terrible and we worked in respirators,” says Maksym Razganyaev, inspector of the environmental service in Kherson.

Risky work

Eco-inspectors Maksym Razganyaev, Svitlana Lyashenko, Valentina Nashko, Oleg Kaidashov, traveling by boat, took a sample of water to check it for toxicity, and when the water subsided on the fourth day, they began to take soil samples.

The work of eco-inspectors is not noticeable: people in bulletproof vests, under fire, collect water and soil in flasks. But what they do, says Hanna Mamonova, is very important for the investigation of Russian crimes.

These are extremely simple, accessible people who do their job in dangerous conditions

“The Prosecutor General’s Office created the largest investigative group in the entire history of Ukraine for the investigation into the destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam and its consequences. About 400 investigators and prosecutors work. But even more involved people who are related to ecology. The State Environmental Inspection plays a very big role in this big machine. When we came to these people, we realized that they are extremely simple, accessible people who do their job in dangerous conditions,” says Hanna Mamonova.

Valentyna Nashko analyzes the surface water of the Dnieper, on the right bank. After all, the left bank in this part of the region is under temporary Russian occupation. Valentina Nashko told about the condition of this water.

After the hydroelectric power plant was detonated, the water washed away cattle cemeteries, sewers, and cemeteries

“Unfortunately, after the dam was blown up, there was a large excess of iron and oil products. Now the surface water is more or less normal. The damage caused by Russia was terrible, a lot of disaster. And this is the desalination of the sea, it was a big discharge of water, many birds and fish died. It is still difficult to even estimate how much damage has been done and for how long, how nature will behave. In Kherson, we do not drink water from the tap, but only that which is brought to us. After all, water washed away cattle cemeteries, sewers, and cemeteries after the detonation of the hydroelectric power plant. All this penetrated into the lower layers of the soil, all this affects nature and people,” says inspector Valentyna Nashko.

Svitlana Lyashenko collects soil samples. The inspector cannot disclose the results of the investigation, as criminal proceedings have been initiated and the investigation is ongoing.

How long this earth will be dead is unknown, because there are heavy metals in the earth

“We are doing this for society, for the future, so that the Prosecutor General’s Office can later prove Russian crimes in court. We draw up acts of sampling, tie ourselves to the locality, so that it will be easier in court.

Because they couldn’t prove anything without us. After the arrival of the Russian missiles, we take samples and the soil has an excess of heavy metals by 2 or 10 times. How long this earth will be dead is unknown, because there are heavy metals in the earth,” says Svitlana Lyashenko.

Everyone has their own war story

Despite the danger, eco-inspectors continue to work in Kherson. Each of them has its own history experienced during the temporary occupation of Kherson by Russia. Svitlana Lyashenko and her two daughters moved to Mykolaiv in April 2022. Since then, her children have not visited their hometown, where their mother continued to work after the deoccupation.

Maksym Razganyaev’s young son sees his father only on his father’s vacation. Maxim Razganyaev and his family spent eight and a half months in Kherson during the Russian occupation. The eldest son was then eight years old and the couple was expecting a second child. The woman was seven months pregnant on the day of Kherson’s occupation by Russia.

“I tried not to go out once more, not to be in those places where there were suspicious people. The main thing was not to talk about political topics, because the Facebookers in civilian clothes eavesdropped on the bus afterwards – and goodbye. The Russians checked the tattoos. Kadyrov officers took me out of the minibus and searched me.

When his wife was giving birth to a son, Maxim managed to break through the Russian checkpoint to the hospital. He did not go outside from the maternity ward, because wounded Russian soldiers from Chornobayivka were constantly being brought to the hospital building nearby.

Valentyna Nashko lived all the time in Kherson, which was occupied by the Russians. The woman was alone in the apartment and also tried not to leave the house once more.

According to the police of the Kherson region, 33 people were killed and 28 were injured, including 5 policemen, as a result of the Russians blowing up the Kakhovskaya HPP dam. 158 people went missing and to date the whereabouts of 64 have not been established. 49 settlements were flooded, including 17 in the temporarily occupied territory. About 4,000 houses were flooded. Law enforcement officers are conducting 188 criminal proceedings related to the consequences of blowing up the Kakhovskaya HPP dam.

Currently, according to experts, it is impossible to estimate the scale of this man-made disaster, the ecocide that Russia committed on the territory of Ukraine a year ago.