"ECOCIDE": UKRAINE'S WORST ECOLOGICAL DISASTER SINCE CHERNOBYL

[VIK LEWA]

Dam breach could be Ukraine's 'worst ecological disaster since Chernobyl'

Former minister makes grave warning as scientists wait for water to subside before assessing impact

Ukrainian scientists are waiting for the water to subside before fully assessing the environmental impact of the Kakhovka dam breach, but one former minister warned it could prove the country’s worst ecological disaster since the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called an emergency meeting of his security council after the partial collapse of one of the biggest dams in the world. The country’s public prosecutor said it is investigating a possible case of “ecocide”. Ukraine and Russia have each accused the other of deliberately blasting the main concrete barrier. Other media point to satellite data that shows a road across the dam was already partly inundated in recent days and that water levels were at a record high. The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the collapse and described the explosion as an “environmental catastrophe”.

[lei.talk]