The lowering of the flood waters caused by the destruction, on June 6, of a dam in Ukraine is revealing the magnitude of the tragedy in the area occupied by Russian forces, where residents denounce looting and urgently bury the victims. drowned who appear in flooded areas. “There are many drowned, the morgues are full,” says a neighbor from one of the most affected towns about the reality left behind by the flood.
“Today there have been 67 funerals”, and “there will be more deaths as the water continues to decrease”, explains this woman who asks to remain anonymous in the face of possible reprisals from the Russian occupation authorities, who according to the authorities and several Ukrainian NGOs do everything everything possible to hide the magnitude of the disaster.
The testimony of this resident of the part of Kherson province occupied by Russian forces is one of dozens of complaints collected by activist Diana Dereveanco, whose civic organization, Progressive Community, works from Moldova to help Ukrainian refugees and document crimes. of Russian war
Due to its lower altitude, the eastern bank of the Dnipro River as it passes through the Kherson province in southern Ukraine has been more affected than the right bank. In addition to the orographic conditions, the eastern bank has another disadvantage over the other bank of the river. Kherson province east of the Dnipro is occupied by Russian forces who, according to kyiv, intentionally blew up the dam to hinder a possible Ukrainian offensive in the area.
While the Ukrainian government has organized extensive rescue operations on the western bank that it controls, which functioned even under Russian bombing, the neighbors on the eastern bank denounce the abandonment of some occupation authorities that have prevented the volunteers from working and are carrying out looting.
The NGO Human Rights Watch has published this week the testimony of a woman from the town of Oleshki, one of those who were submerged under water, who denounces the blockade imposed by Russian forces after the disaster.
According to the woman, the occupation authorities prohibited entrances and exits to the town, preventing those who tried to leave by car when the water level still allowed it and going so far as to shoot into the air to discourage volunteers from other areas who were going to help two days after the catastrophe.
Both the Ukrainian and NGO authorities as well as that of Diana Dereveanco, the activist who denounces the atrocities of the Russian invasion from Moldova, have reported systematic looting in the areas affected by the flood.
According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian army, the Russian forces send empty trucks that are presented as humanitarian aid transports to later load them with furniture, electronic equipment and other goods that the Russian military would be stealing from the houses in the evicted towns.
Testimonies collected by Dereveanco confirm these denunciations and describe the apparent Russian eagerness for the still functional electronic equipment that they find in the evacuated houses.
Before the rescue efforts could even begin, say some of these voices, Russian soldiers stole from some houses the boats and generators they would need to save themselves or help their neighbors.
In addition to the human drama, the blowing up of the dam has caused a natural catastrophe that is irreversible in many ways. “The Russian occupation is causing extreme suffering at many levels that overlap and aggravate each other,” Anastasia Pavlenko, from Extinction Rebellion Ukraine, told Efe.
The activist from the international environmental action group warns that “contaminated water flows through Ukrainian cities and towns into the Black Sea, killing all the plants and animals in its path.”
“We have before us a global catastrophe,” says Pavlenko, who demands a stronger reaction from the international community to this “ecocide.”
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