Ukraine dam breach sparks major landmine threat, warns Red Cross

A significant dam breach in southern Ukraine could have disastrous consequences for landmine detection, warns the Red Cross. The ongoing water surge down the Dnipro river, which separates Russian and Ukrainian-controlled territories, has forced thousands to evacuate from areas in the Kherson region. Both nations accuse each other of sabotaging the Kakhovka dam, though the BBC has been unable to confirm either side’s claims.

Erik Tollefsen, head of the Red Cross’s weapon contamination unit, expressed his concerns about dislodged mines posing a significant threat not only to Kherson residents but also to those assisting them. “We knew where the hazards were,” he told AFP news agency. “Now we don’t know. All we know is that they are somewhere downstream.” Nataliya Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s South Command, informed Ukrainian TV that many anti-infantry mines have been dislodged, becoming floating mines, and pose a significant danger as they are likely to explode upon contact with debris or each other.

On Tuesday morning, the dam in Russian-controlled Nova Kakhovka was breached, resulting in mass evacuations as water levels downstream increased rapidly. Officials report that 30 towns and villages along the river have been flooded, and nearly 2,000 homes have been submerged in the main city of Kherson.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko stated that Ukrainians are developing a plan to assist people on both sides of the Dnipro river. “We are saving everyone on the right [Ukrainian-controlled] bank and developing a plan to help people on the [Russian-held] left bank.” He also accused the Russians of leaving “people to fend for themselves.”

Rising water levels are expected to peak in Kherson late on Wednesday, but officials fear a catastrophic impact on agriculture as the vast Kakhovka reservoir empties into the Black Sea. Kherson’s regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said 1,700 have been evacuated so far, while Kremlin-installed officials on the other side of the river say 1,200 people have been taken to safety.

Officials estimate that over 40,000 people – 17,000 in Ukraine-held territory west of the Dnipro and 25,000 in the Russian-occupied east – need to evacuate. Unicef’s Damian Rance expressed concerns about the destruction of homes and the impact on trapped residents. “Safe water has been impacted in many of these locations as the water supply obviously came from the reservoir there, as has the electricity supplies that have been cut off.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky stated earlier on Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of people across the Kherson region are without drinking water. Both sides blame each other for the destruction of the dam. Ukraine claims it was mined by Russian forces and accuses Russia of doing little to help people in flooded areas of the Russian-occupied east bank of the river. Russia alleges the damage was caused by Ukrainian shelling, with President Vladimir Putin calling it “a barbaric act” in a phone call with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

This situation adds to the ongoing difficulties faced by the city of Kherson, which was occupied by Russian forces soon after the war began last year but was liberated by Ukraine in November. Since then, the city has endured continuous shelling. In recent years, the Kakhovka dam has become a symbol of leverage between Kyiv and Moscow. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Ukrainian authorities closed the dam and cut off the peninsula from a major water supply. Last year, Ukraine accused invading Russian forces of planting the dam with explosives, a claim denied by the Kremlin.