Kyiv puts environmental damage from Ukraine dam breach at $1.5 bn
by AFP Staff Writers
London (AFP) June 21, 2023

Kyiv said Wednesday the destruction of the Russian-held Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine earlier this month caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damages to the environment.

The breach of the dam on June 6 caused devastating floods in the Kherson region under Russian and Ukrainian control, forcing thousands to flee and sparking fears of an environmental disaster.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of "eco-cide" by blowing up the Soviet-era dam on the Dnipro River, while Russia has blamed Ukraine.

"Every day Russia is inflicting new losses on Ukraine," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said at a reconstruction conference in London.

He said the overall cost of Ukraine's reconstruction, estimated at $411 billion by the World Bank, "will grow, especially after the Russians blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant".

He said the "preliminary estimates" of $1.5 billion in environmental damages following the dam breach do not include "losses to agriculture, infrastructure, housing, and the cost of rebuilding the plant itself".

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