By KYIV. June 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Almost 55,000 hectares of forests in Kherson region may be flooded with water as a result of the Russian troops blowing up Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP), of which 47,000 hectares are occupied territories, director of SOE Forests of Ukraine Yuriy Bolokhovets has said.
“Assessing the damage caused to forestry is now quite difficult, because we do not have access to the occupied territories. However, it is possible to predict the situation,” he said on Facebook on Tuesday.
Bolokhovets said the left bank of the Dnieper in Kherson region is planted with pine forests. A fertile layer of forests and young plantations could already be literally demolished by a stream of water.
Pine grows well where it is dry, the expert further explains. In flooded places, stagnant water provokes the development of root rot, changes the acidity of the soil. This is fraught with the death of trees if the water stays up to 20 days, as predicted. Trees under ten years of age are under particular threat.
Of particular concern to the head of Forests of Ukraine are wild animals that ended up in flooded areas. “If there is still hope for the preservation of plants in the forest, then the animals are actually doomed. Perhaps someone will be able to cling to an island of land, but the vast majority will simply carry the current into the open sea. These are deer, roe deer, wild boars. Lizards, snakes, hares, hedgehogs – there is no chance,” Bolokhovets said.
He also said the threat of flooding is approaching the Kinburn Spit, most of which is below sea level. According to him, the isthmus at the end of the bay outside the Dnieper delta is likely to be almost completely flooded, and this could happen 50 hours after the dam break.
“The Kinburn Spit Regional Landscape Park, which has been suffering from fires as a result of shelling for more than a year, may now be partially under water,” Bolokhovets said.
It is noted that due to the destruction of Kakhovka HPP, about 150 tonnes of machine lubricant got into the Dnieper, the sediment of which on plants leads to irreversible consequences in the process of photosynthesis.
“Such actions of a terrorist country are ecocide, for which you will have to answer,” the head of Forests of Ukraine said.
