Threats and Challenges to the Black Sea in the Wake of the Kakhovka Tragedy
On 6 June 2023, the Russian occupiers carried out one of the largest terrorist attacks on Ukrainian territory — they blew up the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. Ukrainian officials regard the destruction as ecocide and a war crime. Even now, almost a year and a half after the tragedy, it is impossible to fully assess all the consequences of the disaster. The destruction of the dam, which caused extensive flooding and the draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir, in addition to human casualties and material damage, caused a humanitarian and technological disaster, destroyed landscapes, altered ecosystems, polluted aquifers, and littered coastlines and water bodies.
Perhaps decades from now our descendants will call the Kakhovka disaster and its impact on the environment and the state of the Black Sea a second Chornobyl.
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