Some experts have said it could take a decade for the flora and fauna to return and adjust - and even longer for the area's human population. Should the Ukrainians attempt to repair the damage - a risky and difficult undertaking given the constantly-moving frontlines in this unpredictable war - or should they allow the region to return to the arid plain it was in before the dam was built 70 years ago? It supplied water for much of the country's southeastern region, as well as the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. It is the last of the six Soviet-era dams on the Dnipro River, a major waterway running through southeastern Ukraine. The collapse of the dam has left 94% of irrigation systems in Kherson, 74% in Zaporizhzhia and 30% in Dnipro regions "without a source of water", the ministry says, adding that this could see agricultural fields in southern Ukraine "perhaps turning into deserts".īefore its collapse, the Nova Kakhovka dam was the largest reservoir in Ukraine in terms of volume. Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry estimates that 10,000 hectares (24,000 acres) of farmland are underwater in the part of Kherson province controlled by Ukraine, and "many times more than that" in territory occupied by Russia. We've reported before on the importance of agriculture in Ukraine - to its own economy and to world food supplies, particularly with regard to staples such as grain.
We already know that the breach of the Kakhovka dam has affected people's homes and supplies of fresh water.īut there are other environmental concerns too. The ISW adds: "The Russian military remains dangerous and Ukrainian forces certainly face a hard fight, but Ukraine has not yet committed the vast majority of its counter-offensive forces and Russian defences are not uniformly strong along all sectors of the front line." "However, initial attacks - and particularly selected footage that Russian sources are intentionally disseminating and highlighting - are not representative of all Ukrainian operations."
"Ukrainian forces are unsurprisingly taking casualties in initial attacks against some of the best-prepared Russian forces in Ukraine. It stresses that these initial assaults should not be used as an indicator of how Ukraine's other counter-offensive attacks will be undertaken. This is a frontal assault on prepared defensive (Russian) positions which is further complicated by Ukraine's lack of air superiority, the ISW says.
The US-based policy organisation Institute For The Study Of War says Ukrainian forces are "attempting an extraordinarily difficult tactical operation".
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